Ulysses Simpson Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant;[a] April 27, 1822 –
July 23, 1885) was an American soldier and statesman who served as
Commanding General of the Army and President of the United States, the
highest positions in the military and the government of the United
States. A prominent
United StatesUnited States Army general during the American
Civil War, Grant led the
Union ArmyUnion Army to victory over the Confederacy
with the supervision of Abraham Lincoln. As the 18th President of the
United StatesUnited States (1869–77) Grant led the Republicans in their efforts
to remove the vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery during
Reconstruction.
Grant was born and raised in Ohio by
MethodistMethodist parents whose lineage
in the new world went back several generations. As a youth he often
worked in his father's tannery and showed an early talent for riding,
taming and managing horses. After graduating from West Point in 1843
Grant served with distinction in the Mexican–American War. Upon his
return he married Julia Dent, and together they had four children.
Grant retired from the army in 1854 and struggled financially in
civilian life. When the Civil War began in 1861 he rejoined the army
and quickly rose through the ranks. As a general he took control of
Kentucky, most of Tennessee, won major battles at Shiloh and seized
Vicksburg, gaining control of the
Mississippi RiverMississippi River and dividing the
Confederacy. These victories, combined with those in the Chattanooga
Campaign, persuaded
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln that Grant was the general best
suited to lead the combined Union armies. Grant was promoted to
Lieutenant General, a rank previously reserved for George Washington,
in March 1864. He confronted Robert E. Lee, trapping his army in their
defense of Richmond, while coordinating a series of campaigns in other
theaters. In April 1865 Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox,
effectively ending the war. Historians have hailed Grant's military
genius, and his strategies are featured in military history textbooks.
After Lincoln's assassination, Grant became increasingly disillusioned
by President Andrew Johnson's approach to Reconstruction, and drifted
toward the "Radical" Republicans. Elected president in 1868, the
youngest man in the office to that date, Grant stabilized the post-war
national economy, created the Department of Justice, used the military
to enforce laws in the former Confederacy and prosecuted the Ku Klux
Klan. Grant strengthened the Republican Party in the South and signed
three civil rights acts into law. He appointed
African-AmericansAfrican-Americans and
Jewish-AmericansJewish-Americans to prominent federal offices. In 1871 he created the
first Civil Service Commission. The Democrats and Liberal Republicans
united behind Grant's opponent in the presidential election of 1872,
but Grant was re-elected by a large margin. Generally regarded as
personally honest, he nonetheless faced accusations of corruption
within his administration. Grant's Peace Policy with Native Americans
was a bold departure for its time. In foreign policy, Grant sought to
increase trade and influence while remaining at peace with the world.
With Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, he successfully resolved the
Alabama claims with Great Britain. Grant and Fish negotiated a
peaceful resolution with Spain over the Virginius Affair. Congress
rejected Grant's initiative to annex the Dominican Republic, creating
a rift among Republicans. In national affairs, Grant's administration
implemented a gold standard and sought to strengthen the dollar.
Grant's immediate response to the
Panic of 1873Panic of 1873 failed to halt a
severe industrial depression that produced high unemployment,
deflation, and bankruptcies.
When he left office in 1877, Grant embarked on a two-and-a-half-year
world tour that captured favorable global attention for him and the
United States. In 1880, Grant was unsuccessful in obtaining the
Republican presidential nomination for a third term. Facing severe
investment reversals and dying of throat cancer, he wrote his memoirs,
which proved to be a major critical and financial success. His death
in 1885 prompted an outpouring in support of national unity.
Historical assessments of Grant's legacy have varied considerably over
the years. Although Grant's presidency has popularly been criticized
for its
Gilded AgeGilded Age scandals, modern scholarship regards him as an
embattled president who performed a difficult job during
Reconstruction. Although early rankings of Presidents rated his
administration among the worst, modern appreciation for Grant's
support of civil rights and diverse federal appointments has greatly
improved his historical reputation.

Contents

1 Early life and education
2 Early military career and personal life

2.1 West Point and first assignment
2.2 Mexican–American War
2.3 Post-war assignments

Early life and education
Further information: Early life and career of Ulysses S. Grant

Grant's birthplace, Point Pleasant, Ohio

Hiram Ulysses Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio, on April 27,
1822, to Jesse Root Grant, a tanner and merchant, and Hannah Grant
(née Simpson).[2] His ancestors Matthew and Priscilla Grant arrived
aboard the
Mary and JohnMary and John at
Massachusetts Bay ColonyMassachusetts Bay Colony in 1630.[3]
Grant's great-grandfather fought in the French and Indian War, and his
grandfather, Noah, served in the
American RevolutionAmerican Revolution at Bunker
Hill.[4] Afterward, Noah settled in
PennsylvaniaPennsylvania and married Rachel
Kelley, the daughter of an Irish pioneer.[5] Their son Jesse
(Ulysses's father) was a Whig Party supporter and a fervent
abolitionist.[6]
Jesse Grant moved to Point Pleasant in 1820 and found work as a
foreman in a tannery.[7] He soon met his future wife, Hannah, and the
two were married on June 24, 1821.[8] Ten months later Hannah gave
birth to their first child, a son.[9] At a family gathering several
weeks later the boy's name, Ulysses, was drawn from ballots placed in
a hat. Wanting to honor his father-in-law, Jesse declared the boy to
be Hiram Ulysses, though he would always refer to him as
Ulysses.[10][b]
In 1823, the family moved to Georgetown, Ohio, where five more
siblings were born: Simpson, Clara, Orvil, Jennie, and Mary.[12] At
the age of five, Ulysses began his formal education, starting at a
subscription school and later in two private schools.[13] In the
winter of 1836–1837, Grant was a student at Maysville Seminary, and
in the autumn of 1838 he attended John Rankin's academy. In his youth,
Grant developed an unusual ability to ride and manage horses.[14]
Grant expressed a strong dislike for the tannery. Grant's father
instead put Grant's ability with horses to use by giving him work
driving wagon loads of supplies and transporting people.[15] Unlike
his siblings, Grant was not forced to attend church by his Methodist
parents.[16][c] For the rest of his life, he prayed privately and
never officially joined any denomination.[17] To others, including
late in life, his own son, Grant appeared to be an agnostic.[18] He
inherited some of Hannah's
MethodistMethodist piety and quiet nature while
adopting his father's Whig political inclinations.[19]
Early military career and personal life
West Point and first assignment

Grant's father wrote to Representative
Thomas L. HamerThomas L. Hamer requesting that
he nominate Ulysses to the
United States Military AcademyUnited States Military Academy (USMA) at
West Point, New York. When a spot opened in March 1839, Hamer
nominated the 16-year-old Grant.[20] He mistakenly wrote down "Ulysses
S. Grant", which became Grant's adopted name.[21][d] Initially
reluctant because of concerns about his academic ability, Grant
entered the academy on July 1, 1839, as a cadet and trained there for
four years.[24] His nickname became "Sam" among army colleagues since
the initials "U.S." also stood for "Uncle Sam".[25]
Initially, Grant was indifferent to military life, but within a year
he reexamined his desire to leave the academy and later wrote, "on the
whole I like this place very much".[26] While at the Academy, his
greatest interest was horses,[27]and he earned a reputation as the
"most proficient" horseman. During the graduation ceremony, while
riding York, a large and powerful horse that only Grant could manage
well, he set a high-jump record that stood for 25 years.[28][e]
Seeking relief from military routine, he also studied under Romantic
artist
Robert Walter WeirRobert Walter Weir and produced nine surviving artworks.[30] He
spent more time reading books from the library than his academic
texts, frequently reading works by
James Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore Cooper and
others.[31] On Sundays, cadets were required to march to and attend
services at the academy's church, a requirement that Grant
disliked.[32] Quiet by nature, Grant established a few intimate
friends among fellow cadets, including
Frederick Tracy DentFrederick Tracy Dent and James
Longstreet. He was inspired both by the Commandant, Captain Charles F.
Smith and by General Winfield Scott, who visited the academy to review
the cadets. Grant later wrote of the military life, "there is much to
dislike, but more to like."[33]
Grant graduated on June 30, 1843, ranked 21st out of 39 alumni, and
was promoted on July 1 to the rank brevet second lieutenant.[34] Small
for his age at 17, he had entered the academy weighing only 117 pounds
at five feet two inches tall; upon graduation four years later he had
grown to a height of five feet seven inches.[35] Glad to leave the
academy, he planned to resign his commission after his four-year term
of duty.[36] Grant would later write to a friend that among the
happiest days of his life was the day he left the presidency and the
day he left the academy.[37] Despite his excellent horsemanship, he
was not assigned to the cavalry, but to the 4th Infantry Regiment. He
served as regimental quartermaster, managing supplies and
equipment.[38] Grant's first assignment took him to the Jefferson
Barracks near St. Louis, Missouri.[39] Commanded by Colonel Stephen W.
Kearny, the barracks was the nation's largest military base in the
west.[40] Grant was happy with his new commander, but looked forward
to the end of his military service and a possible teaching career.[41]
In Missouri, Grant visited Dent's family and became engaged to his
sister, Julia, in 1844.[41] Four years later on August 22, 1848, they
were married at Julia's home in St. Louis. Grant's abolitionist father
Jesse, who disapproved of the Dents owning slaves, refused to attend
their wedding, which took place without either of Grant's parents.[42]
Grant was flanked by three fellow West Point graduates, all dressed in
their blue uniforms, including Longstreet, Julia's cousin.[43][f] At
the end of the month, Julia was nevertheless warmly received by
Grant's family in Bethel, Ohio.[46] They had four children: Frederick,
Ulysses Jr. ("Buck"), Ellen ("Nellie"), and Jesse.[47] After the
wedding, Grant obtained a two-month extension to his leave and
returned to
St. LouisSt. Louis when he decided, with a wife to support, that he
would remain in the army.[48]
Mexican–American War
Main articles:
Mexican–American WarMexican–American War and Mexican Cession

Battle of Monterrey, 1846

After rising tensions with Mexico following the United States'
annexation of Texas, war broke out in 1846. During the conflict, Grant
distinguished himself as a daring and competent soldier.[49] Before
the war, President
John TylerJohn Tyler had ordered Grant's unit to Louisiana as
part of the
Army of Observation under Major General Zachary
Taylor.[50] In September 1846, Tyler's successor, James K. Polk,
unable to provoke Mexico into war at Corpus Christi, Texas, ordered
Taylor to march 150 miles south to the Rio Grande. Marching south to
Fort Texas, to prevent a Mexican siege, Grant experienced combat for
the first time on May 8, 1846, at the Battle of Palo Alto.[51]
While serving as regimental quartermaster, Grant yearned for a combat
role; when finally allowed, he led a cavalry charge at the Battle of
Resaca de la Palma. He demonstrated his equestrian ability at the
Battle of MonterreyBattle of Monterrey by carrying a dispatch past snipers while hanging
off the side of his horse, keeping the animal between him and the
enemy.[52] Before leaving the city he stopped at a house occupied by
wounded Americans, giving them assurance he would send for help.[53]
Polk, wary of Taylor's growing popularity, divided his forces, sending
some troops (including Grant's unit) to form a new army under Major
General Winfield Scott.[54] Traveling by sea, Scott's army landed at
VeracruzVeracruz and advanced toward Mexico City.[55] The army met the Mexican
forces at the battles of Molino del Rey and Chapultepec outside Mexico
City.[56] For his bravery at Molino del Rey, Grant was brevetted first
lieutenant on September 30.[57] At San Cosmé, men under Grant's
direction dragged a disassembled howitzer into a church steeple,
reassembled it, and bombarded nearby Mexican troops.[56] His bravery
and initiative earned him his second brevet promotion to captain.[58]
On September 14, 1847, Scott's army marched into the city; Mexico
ceded the vast territory, including California, to the U.S. on
February 2, 1848.[59]
During the war, Grant established a commendable record, studied the
tactics and strategies of Scott and Taylor, and emerged as a seasoned
officer, writing in his memoirs that this is how he learned much about
military leadership.[60] In retrospect, although he respected
Scott[61] he identified his leadership style with Taylor's. However,
Grant also wrote that the Mexican War was wrong and the territorial
gains were designed to expand slavery, stating, "I was bitterly
opposed to the measure ... and to this day, regard the war, which
resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a
weaker nation." He opined that the Civil War was punishment on the
nation for its aggression in Mexico.[62] During the war, Grant
discovered his "moral courage" and began to consider a career in the
army.[63]
Post-war assignments

Grant's first post-war assignments took him and Julia to
DetroitDetroit on
November 17, 1848, only to find that after his four-month leave of
absence he was replaced as quartermaster and was sent to Madison
Barracks, a desolate outpost at
Sackets HarborSackets Harbor in upstate New York, in
bad need of supplies and repair.[64] Concerned for Julia, Grant filed
an official complaint requesting a transfer. When Ulysses had spare
cash he would travel to nearby Watertown and buy supplies for himself
and gifts for Julia in a dry goods store.[g] After a four-month stay,
Grant's request for transfer was approved and he was sent back to
DetroitDetroit where he resumed his job as regimental quartermaster.[65]
With the discovery of gold in California, and droves of prospectors
and settlers arriving there, Grant and the 4th infantry was ordered to
CaliforniaCalifornia in 1852, sailing from
New York CityNew York City to Panama, overland to
the Pacific and then north to
CaliforniaCalifornia to reinforce the small
garrison there. Julia, eight months pregnant with Ulysses Jr., did not
accompany him. While in Panama a cholera epidemic broke out and
claimed the lives of many soldiers. In Panama City, Grant established
and organized a field hospital and moved the worst cases to a hospital
barge one mile offshore.[66] When orderlies protested to tending the
sick, Grant did much of the nursing himself, earning high praise from
observers.[67] In August, Grant arrived in San Francisco, a busy Gold
Rush boomtown. Grant's next assignment sent him north to Vancouver
Barracks in the then Oregon Territory.[68][h]
To supplement a military salary which was inadequate to support his
family, Grant speculated and failed at several business ventures,
confirming his father's belief that he had no head for business.[70]
Grant assured Julia in a letter that local Native Americans were
harmless, while he developed an empathy for the plight of Indians from
the "unjust treatment" by white men.[71] Promoted to captain on August
5, 1853, Grant was assigned to command Company F, 4th Infantry, at the
newly constructed Fort Humboldt in California.[72] He arrived at the
fort on January 5, 1854, and reported to its commander Lieutenant
Colonel Robert C. Buchanan.[73] Grant was bored and depressed about
being separated from his wife, and he began to drink.[74] An officer
who roomed with Grant reported the affair to Colonel Buchanan, who
reprimanded Grant for one drinking episode. Grant told Buchanan if he
did not reform he would resign. One Sunday, Grant was again rumored to
have been found at his company's paytable influenced by drink. Keeping
his pledge to Buchanan, Grant resigned, effective July 31, 1854,
without explanation.[75] Buchanan endorsed Grant's letter of
resignation but did not submit any report that verified the
incident.[76][i] Grant was neither arrested nor faced court-martial,
while the War Department stated, "Nothing stands against his good
name."[81] Grant said years later, "the vice of intemperance
(drunkenness) had not a little to do with my decision to resign."[82]
With no means of support, Grant returned to
St. LouisSt. Louis and reunited
with his family, uncertain about his future.[83]
Civilian struggles and politics

"Hardscrabble", the farm home Grant built in Missouri for his family

At age 32, with no civilian vocation, Grant needed work to support his
growing family. It was the beginning of seven financially lean years.
His father offered him a place in the Galena, Illinois, branch of the
family's leather business on condition that Julia and the children
stay with her parents in Missouri or with the Grants in Kentucky.
Ulysses and Julia opposed another separation and declined the offer.
In 1855, Grant farmed on his brother-in-law's property near St. Louis,
using slaves owned by Julia's father.[84] The farm was not successful
and to earn money he sold firewood on
St. LouisSt. Louis street corners.[85]
Earning only $50 a month, wearing his faded army jacket, an unkempt
Grant desperately looked for work.[86] The next year, the Grants moved
to land on Julia's father's farm, and built a home Grant called
"Hardscrabble". Julia disliked the rustic house, which she described
as an "unattractive cabin".[87] The
Panic of 1857Panic of 1857 devastated farmers,
including Grant who, reaching a low ebb financially, pawned his gold
watch to pay for Christmas.[88] In 1858, Grant rented out Hardscrabble
and moved his family to Julia's father's 850-acre estate, a plantation
that employed slave labor.[89] That fall, after a bout of malaria,
Grant retired from farming.[90]
The same year, Grant acquired a slave from his father-in-law, a
thirty-five-year-old man named William Jones.[91] In March 1859, Grant
freed William, worth about $1,500, instead of selling him at a time
when he needed money.[92] Grant moved to St. Louis, taking on a
partnership with Julia's cousin Harry Boggs working in real estate
business as a bill collector, again without success, and at Julia's
recommendation dissolved his partnership.[93] In August, Grant applied
for a position as county engineer, believing his education qualified
him for the job. His application came with thirty-five notable
recommendations, but Grant correctly assumed the position would be
given on the basis of political affiliation and was passed over as he
was believed to share his father-in-law's Democratic sentiments.[94]
In April 1860, Grant and his family moved north to Galena, accepting a
position in his father's leather goods business run by his younger
brothers Simpson and Orvil.[95][j] In a few months, Ulysses paid off
the debts he acquired in Missouri.[97] Ulysses and family attended the
local
MethodistMethodist church and he soon established himself as a reputable
citizen of Galena.[98]
In the 1856 presidential election, Grant cast his first presidential
vote for Democrat James Buchanan, later saying he was really voting
against Republican
John C. FrémontJohn C. Frémont over concern that his anti-slavery
position would lead to southern secession and war.[99] Although Grant
was not an abolitionist, neither was he considered a "slavery man",
and could not bring himself to force his slave to do work.[100] For
the 1860 election, he favored Democrat
Stephen A. DouglasStephen A. Douglas over the
eventual winner, Abraham Lincoln, and Lincoln over the Southern
Democrat, John C. Breckinridge. Lacking the residency requirements in
Illinois at the time, he could not vote.[101]
Civil War
Main article:
Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant and the American Civil War

Brig. Gen. Grant in 1861

On April 12, 1861, the
American Civil WarAmerican Civil War began when Confederate
troops attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.[102] The
news came as a shock in Galena, and Grant shared his neighbors'
concern about the war.[103] On April 15, Lincoln called for 75,000
volunteers.[104] On April 16, Grant attended a mass meeting held in
Galena to assess the crisis and encourage recruitment, and a speech by
his father's attorney, John Aaron Rawlins, stirred Grant's
patriotism.[105][k] Ready to fight, Grant recalled with satisfaction,
"I never went into our leather store again."[106][l] On April 18,
Grant chaired a second recruitment meeting.[108] Grant turned down a
captain position, to obtain a senior military rank, and drilled
volunteers in Galena and Camp Yates, near Springfield.[109] On April
29, supported by Congressman
Elihu B. WashburneElihu B. Washburne of Illinois, Grant was
promoted military aid to Governor Richard Yates, and mustered ten
regiments into the Illinois service.[110]
Early commands
Further information: Kentucky in the American Civil War
Grant's early efforts to be recommissioned failed, rejected by Major
General
George B. McClellanGeorge B. McClellan and Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon.[111]
On June 14, aided by Washburne, Grant was promoted to Colonel, in
charge of the unruly 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment,
whereupon he restored order.[112] Colonel Grant and his 21st regiment
were transferred to Missouri, to dislodge reported Confederate
forces.[113]
On August 5, with Washburne's aid, Grant was appointed Brigadier
General of volunteers.[114] Major General John C. Frémont, Union
commander of the West, passed over senior generals and appointed Grant
commander of the District of Southeastern Missouri.[115][m] Grant set
up his headquarters at Cairo, Illinois, a bustling Union military and
naval base, that was to be used to launch a joint campaign down the
Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland rivers.[117] After the
Confederates moved into western Kentucky, with designs on southern
Illinois, Grant, who notified Frémont, advanced on Paducah, Kentucky,
taking it without a fight on September 6, and set up a supply
station.[118] Having understood the importance to Lincoln about
Kentucky's neutrality, Grant assured its citizens, "I have come among
you not as your enemy, but as your friend."[119] On November 1,
Frémont ordered Grant to "make demonstrations" against the
Confederates on both sides of the Mississippi, but prohibited him from
attacking the enemy.[120]
Belmont, Forts Henry and Donelson
Main articles: Battle of Belmont, Battle of Fort Henry, and Battle of
Fort Donelson

On November 2, 1861, Lincoln sacked Frémont from command, a move that
freed up Grant to make a planned attack from Cairo on Confederate
soldiers encamped in Belmont, Missouri.[120][n] On November 7, Grant,
along with Brigadier General John A. McClernand, landed 2,500 men at
Hunter's Point, two miles north of the Confederate base outside
Belmont.[122] The Union army took the camp, but the reinforced
Confederates under Brigadier Generals
Frank CheathamFrank Cheatham and Gideon J.
Pillow forced a chaotic Union retreat.[123] Grant had wanted to
destroy Confederate strongholds at both
Belmont, Missouri and
Columbus, Kentucky, but was not given enough troops and was only able
to disrupt their positions. Grant's troops had to fight their way back
to their Union boats and escaped back to Cairo under fire from the
heavily fortified stronghold at Columbus.[124] A tactical defeat, the
battle gave Grant's volunteers confidence and experience.[125]
Confederate morale was shaken, while Grant as a general willing to
fight was noticed by President Lincoln.[126]
Confederate-held Columbus blocked Union access to the lower
Mississippi. Grant, and General James B. McPherson, came up with a
plan to bypass Columbus and with a force of 25,000 troops, move
against Fort Henry on the
Tennessee RiverTennessee River and then ten miles east to
Fort DonelsonFort Donelson on the Cumberland River, with the aid of gunboats,
opening both rivers and allowing the Union access further south. Grant
presented his plan to Henry Halleck, his new commander under the newly
created Department of Missouri.[127] Halleck was considering the same
strategy, but rebuffed Grant, believing he needed twice the number of
troops. However, after Halleck telegraphed and consulted McClellan
about the plan, he finally agreed on condition that the attack be
conducted in close cooperation with navy Flag Officer, Andrew H.
Foote.[128] After Foote's gunboats had silenced most of the guns at
the fort, Grant's troops moved in and easily captured Fort Henry on
February 6, 1862.[129]
Grant then ordered an immediate assault on nearby Fort Donelson, under
the command of John B. Floyd, which dominated the Cumberland River.
Unlike Fort Henry, Grant was now going up against a force equal to
his. Unaware of the garrison's strength, Grant's forces were
over-confident. Grant, McClernand, and Smith positioned their
divisions around the fort. The next day McClernand and Smith launched
probing attacks on apparent weak spots in the Confederate line, only
to retreat with heavy losses. On February 14, Foote's gunboats began
bombarding the fort, only to be repulsed by its heavy guns. Foote
himself was wounded. Thus far the Confederates were winning, but soon
Union reinforcements arrived, giving Grant a total force of over
40,000 men. When Foote regained control of the river, Grant resumed
his attack resulting in a standoff. That evening Confederate commander
Floyd called a council of war, unsure of his next action. Grant
received a dispatch from Foote, requesting that they meet. Grant
mounted a horse and rode seven miles over freezing roads and trenches,
reaching Smith's division, instructing him to prepare for the next
assault, and rode on and met up with McClernand and Wallace. After
exchanging reports, he met up with Foote. Foote resumed his
bombardment, which signaled a general attack. After a day of battle,
Fort DonelsonFort Donelson submitted to Grant's demand for "unconditional and
immediate surrender", and Floyd struck his flag. Grant telegraphed
Halleck, informing him that
Fort DonelsonFort Donelson had fallen.[130]
Grant had won the first major victory for the Union, capturing Floyd's
entire rebel army of more than 12,000. Halleck was nevertheless angry
that Grant had acted without his authorization and complained to
McClellan, accusing Grant of "neglect and inefficiency". On March 3,
Halleck sent a telegram to Washington complaining that he had no
communication with Grant for a week. Three days later, Halleck
followed up with a postscript claiming "word has just reached me
that ... Grant has resumed his bad habits (of drinking)".[131]
Lincoln, regardless, promoted Grant to major general of volunteers
while the Northern press treated Grant as a hero. Playing off his
initials, they took to calling him "Unconditional Surrender
Grant".[132]
Shiloh and aftermath

Further information: Battle of Shiloh
As the great numbers of troops from both armies gathered, it was
widely assumed in the North that this would be the battle to end the
war.[133] Grant, reinstated by Halleck at Lincoln's and Stanton's
urging, left Fort Henry and traveled by boat up the
Tennessee RiverTennessee River to
rejoin his army with orders to advance with the Army of the Tennessee
into Tennessee. Grant's main Union army was located at Pittsburg
Landing, while 40,000 Confederate troops converged at Corinth.[134]
Brigadier General
William Tecumseh ShermanWilliam Tecumseh Sherman assured Grant that his
green troops were ready for an attack. Grant agreed and wired Halleck
with their assessment.[135] Grant, whose forces numbered 45,000,
wanted to attack the Confederates at Corinth, but Halleck ordered him
not to attack until Major General
Don Carlos BuellDon Carlos Buell arrived with his
division of 25,000.[136] Meanwhile, Grant prepared for an attack on
the Confederate army of roughly equal strength. Instead of preparing
defensive fortifications between the
Tennessee RiverTennessee River and Owl Creek,[o]
and clearing fields of fire, they spent most of their time drilling
the largely inexperienced troops while Sherman dismissed reports of
nearby Confederates.[137]
Union inaction created the opportunity for the Confederates to attack
first before Buell arrived.[138] On the morning of April 6, 1862,
Grant's troops were taken by surprise when the Confederates, led by
Generals
Albert Sidney JohnstonAlbert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard, struck first
"like an Alpine avalanche" near Shiloh church, attacking five
divisions of Grant's army and forcing a confused retreat toward the
Tennessee River.[139] Johnston was wounded and died during the
engagement and command fell upon Beauregard.[140] One Union line held
the Confederate attack off for several hours at a place later called
the "Hornet's Nest", giving Grant time to assemble artillery and
20,000 troops near Pittsburg Landing.[141] The Confederates finally
broke through the Hornet's Nest to capture a Union division, but
"Grant's Last Line" held Pittsburg Landing, while the exhausted
Confederates, lacking reinforcements, halted their advance.[142] That
evening, heavy rain set in while Grant and his staff took cover and
huddled around a fire. When asked by McPherson if he was going to
retreat, Grant replied, "Retreat? No. I propose to attack them at
daylight and whip them."[143]
Bolstered by 18,000 fresh troops from the divisions of Major Generals
Buell and Lew Wallace, Grant counterattacked at dawn the next day and
regained the field, forcing the disorganized and demoralized rebels to
retreat back to Corinth while thousands deserted.[144] Halleck ordered
Grant not to advance more than one day from Pittsburg Landing,
stopping the pursuit of the Confederate Army.[145] Although Grant had
won the battle the situation was little changed, with the Union in
possession of
Pittsburg LandingPittsburg Landing and the Confederates once again holed
up in Corinth.[146] Grant, now realizing that the South was determined
to fight and that the war would not be won with one battle, would
later write, "Then, indeed, I gave up all idea of saving the Union
except by complete conquest."[147]
Shiloh was the costliest battle in American history to that point and
the staggering 23,746 total casualties stunned the nation.[148]
Briefly hailed a hero for routing the Confederates, Grant was soon
mired in controversy.[149] The Northern press castigated Grant for
shockingly high casualties, and accused him of drunkenness during the
battle, contrary to the accounts of officers and others with him at
the time.[150][p] However, Grant's victory at Shiloh ended any chance
for the Confederates to prevail in the
MississippiMississippi valley or regain
its strategic advantage in the West.[151]
Halleck arrived from
St. LouisSt. Louis on April 11, took command, and
assembled a combined army of about 120,000 men. On April 29, he
relieved Grant of field command and replaced him with Major General
George Henry Thomas. Halleck slowly marched his army to take Corinth,
entrenching each night.[152] Meanwhile, Beauregard pretended to be
reinforcing, sent "deserters" to the
Union ArmyUnion Army with that story, and
moved his army out during the night, to Halleck's surprise when he
finally arrived at Corinth on May 30.[153] Discouraged, Grant
considered resigning but Sherman convinced him to stay.[154] Lincoln
dismissed Grant's critics, saying "I can't spare this man; he
fights."[155] Halleck divided his combined army and reinstated Grant
as field commander of the
Army of the TennesseeArmy of the Tennessee on July 11.[156]
On September 19, Grant's army defeated Confederates at the Battle of
Iuka, then successfully defended Corinth, inflicting heavy
casualties.[157] On October 25, Grant assumed command of the District
of the Tennessee.[158] In November, after Lincoln's preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation, Grant ordered units under his command to
incorporate former slaves into the Union Army, giving them clothes,
shelter and wages for their services.[159]
Vicksburg campaign
Further information:
Vicksburg CampaignVicksburg Campaign and General Order No. 11
(1862)

The Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi, blocked the way
of Union control of the
MississippiMississippi River, making its capture
vital..[160] Grant's Army held western Tennessee with almost 40,000
troops available to fight.[161] Grant was aggravated to learn that
Lincoln authorized McClernand to raise a separate army for the
purpose.[162] Halleck ordered McClernand to Memphis, and placed him
and his troops under Grant's authority.[163] After Grant's army
captured Holly Springs, Grant planned to attack Vicksburg's front
overland while Sherman would attack the fortress from the rear on the
MississippiMississippi River.[164] However, Confederate cavalry raids on December
11 and 20 broke Union communications and recaptured Holly Springs,
preventing Grant's and Sherman's armies from connecting.[165] On
December 29, a Confederate army led by Lieutenant General John C.
Pemberton repulsed Sherman's direct approach ascending the bluffs to
Vicksburg at Chickasaw Bayou.[166] McClernand reached Sherman's army,
assumed command, and independently of Grant led a campaign that
captured Confederate Fort Hindman.[167] During this time, Grant
incorporated fleeing
African AmericanAfrican American slaves into the Union Army
giving them protection and paid employment.[168]
Along with his military responsibilities in the months following
Grant's return to command, he was concerned over an expanding illicit
cotton trade in his district.[169] He believed the trade undermined
the Union war effort, funded the Confederacy, and prolonged the war,
while Union soldiers died in the fields.[170] On December 17, he
issued General Order No. 11, expelling "Jews, as a class," from the
district, saying that Jewish merchants were violating trade
regulations.[171] Writing in 2012, historian
Jonathan D. Sarna said
Grant "issued the most notorious anti-Jewish official order in
American history."[172] Historians' opinions vary on Grant's motives
for issuing the order.[173] Jewish leaders complained to Lincoln while
the Northern press criticized Grant.[174] Lincoln demanded the order
be revoked and Grant rescinded it within three weeks.[175] When
interviewed years after the war, in response to accusations of his
General Order being anti-Jewish, Grant explained: "During war times
these nice distinctions were disregarded, we had no time to handle
things with kid gloves."[176][q]

The Battle of Jackson, fought on May 14, 1863, was part of the
Vicksburg Campaign.

On January 29, 1863, Grant assumed overall command and attempted to
advance his army through water-logged terrain to bypass Vicksburg's
guns, while the green Union soldiers gained valuable experience.[178]
On April 16, Grant ordered Admiral David Dixon Porter's gunboats south
under fire from the Vicksburg batteries to meet up with his troops who
had marched south down the west side of the
MississippiMississippi River.[179]
Grant ordered diversionary battles, confusing Pemberton and allowing
Grant's army to move east across the Mississippi, landing troops at
Bruinsburg.[180] Grant's army captured Jackson, the state capital.
Advancing his army to Vicksburg, Grant defeated Pemberton's army at
the
Battle of Champion HillBattle of Champion Hill on May 16, forcing their retreat into
Vicksburg.[181] After Grant's men assaulted the entrenchments twice,
suffering severe losses, they settled in for a siege lasting seven
weeks. During quiet periods of the campaign Grant would take to
drinking on occasion.[182] Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg to Grant on
July 4, 1863.[183]
Vicksburg's fall gave Union forces control of the
MississippiMississippi River
and split the Confederacy. By that time, Grant's political sympathies
fully coincided with the Radical Republicans' aggressive prosecution
of the war and emancipation of the slaves.[184] The success at
Vicksburg was a morale boost for the Union war effort. The personal
rivalry between McClernand and Grant continued after Vicksburg until
Grant removed McClernand from command when he contravened Grant by
publishing an order without permission.[185] When Secretary of War
Edwin M. StantonEdwin M. Stanton suggested Grant be brought back east to run the Army
of the Potomac, Grant demurred, writing that he knew the geography and
resources of the West better and he did not want to upset the chain of
command in the East.[186]

Chattanooga and promotion
Further information: Chattanooga Campaign

Union troops swarm Missionary Ridge and defeat Bragg's army.

Lincoln promoted Grant to major general in the regular army and
assigned him command of the newly formed Division of the Mississippi
on October 16, 1863, including the Armies of the Ohio, Tennessee, and
Cumberland.[187] After the Battle of Chickamauga, the Army of the
Cumberland retreated into Chattanooga where they became trapped.[188]
Taking command, Grant arrived in Chattanooga by horseback with plans
to resupply the city and break the siege.[189] Lincoln also sent Major
General
Joseph HookerJoseph Hooker to assist Grant. Union forces captured Brown's
Ferry and opened a supply line to Bridgeport.[190] On November 23,
Grant organized three armies to attack at Missionary Ridge and Lookout
Mountain. Two days later, Hooker's forces took Lookout Mountain.[191]
Grant ordered Major General
George Henry ThomasGeorge Henry Thomas to advance when
Sherman's army failed to take Missionary Ridge from the
northeast.[192] The Army of the Cumberland, led by Major General
Philip SheridanPhilip Sheridan and Brigadier General Thomas J. Wood, charged uphill
and captured the Confederate entrenchments at the top, forcing a
retreat.[193] The decisive battle gave the Union control of Tennessee
and opened Georgia, the Confederate heartland, to Union invasion.[194]
Grant was given an enormous thoroughbred horse, Cincinnati, by a
thankful admirer in St. Louis.[195][r]
On March 2, 1864, Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general, giving
him command of all Union Armies, answering only to the president.[197]
Grant arrived in Washington on March 8, and he was formally
commissioned by Lincoln the next day at a Cabinet meeting.[198] Grant
developed a good working relationship with Lincoln, who allowed Grant
to devise his own strategy as long as Lee was defeated.[199] Grant
established his headquarters with General George Meade's Army of the
Potomac in Culpeper, north-west of Richmond, and met weekly with
Lincoln and Stanton in Washington.[200][s] After protest from Halleck,
Grant scrapped a risky invasion plan of North Carolina, and adopted a
plan of five coordinated Union offensives on five fronts, so
Confederate armies could not shift troops along interior lines.[202]
Grant and Meade would make a direct frontal attack on Robert E. Lee's
Army of Northern Virginia, while Sherman, whom Grant named chief of
the western armies, was to destroy Joseph E. Johnston's Army of
Tennessee and take Atlanta.[203] Major General Benjamin Butler would
advance on Lee from the southeast, up the James River, while Major
General
Nathaniel BanksNathaniel Banks would capture Mobile.[204] Major General Franz
Sigel was to capture granaries and rail lines in the Shenandoah Valley
that supplied the Confederate Army.[205] Grant commanded in total
533,000 battle-ready troops spread out over an eighteen mile front,
while the Confederates had lost many officers in battle and had great
difficulty finding replacements.[206]
Grant's own popularity had risen, and there was talk that a Union
victory early in the year could lead to his candidacy for the
presidency. He was aware of the rumors, but had ruled out a political
candidacy; the possibility would soon vanish with delays on the
battlefield.[207]
Overland CampaignOverland Campaign and Petersburg Siege
Further information:
Overland CampaignOverland Campaign and Siege of Petersburg

Battle of the Wilderness

The
Overland CampaignOverland Campaign was a series of brutal battles fought in
VirginiaVirginia for seven weeks during May and June 1864.[208] Sigel's and
Butler's efforts sputtered, and Grant was left alone to fight
Lee.[209] On the morning of Wednesday, May 4, dressed in his full
uniform, with sword at his side, Grant rode out from his headquarters
at Culpeper towards Germanna Ford, mounted on his war horse,
Cincinnati.[210] That day Grant crossed the Rapidian unopposed, while
supplies were transported on four pontoon bridges.[211] On May 5, the
Union army attacked Lee in the Wilderness, a three-day battle with
estimated casualties of 17,666 Union and 11,125 Confederate.[212]
Rather than retreat, Grant flanked Lee's army to the southeast and
attempted to wedge his forces between Lee and Richmond at Spotsylvania
Court House.[213] Lee's army got to Spotsylvania first and a costly
battle ensued, lasting thirteen days, with high casualties.[214] On
May 12, Grant attempted to break through Lee's Muleshoe salient
guarded by Confederate artillery, resulting in one of the bloodiest
assaults of the Civil War, known as the Bloody Angle.[215] Unable to
break Lee's lines, Grant again flanked the rebels to the southeast,
meeting at North Anna, where a battle lasted three days.[216]

Grant maneuvered his army to Cold Harbor, a vital railroad hub that
linked to Richmond, but Lee's men had the defensive advantage and were
already entrenched. On the third day of the thirteen-day battle, Grant
led a costly assault and was soon castigated as "the Butcher" by the
Northern press after taking 52,788 Union casualties; Lee's Confederate
army suffered 32,907 casualties, but he was less able to replace
them.[217] This battle was the second of two that Grant later said he
regretted (the other being his initial assault on Vicksburg).
Undetected by Lee, Grant moved his army south of the James River,
freed Butler from the Bermuda Hundred, and advanced toward Petersburg,
Virginia's central railroad hub.[218] After crossing the James, Grant
arrived at Petersburg, threatening nearby Richmond. Beauregard
defended the city, and Lee's veteran reinforcements soon arrived,
resulting in a nine-month siege. Northern resentment grew as the war
dragged on. Lee was forced to defend Richmond, unable to reinforce
other Confederate forces. Sheridan was assigned command of the Union
Army of the Shenandoah and Grant directed him to "follow the enemy to
their death" and to destroy vital Confederate supplies in the
Shenandoah Valley. When Sheridan reported suffering attacks by John S.
Mosby's irregular Confederate cavalry, Grant recommended rounding up
their families for imprisonment as hostages at Fort McHenry.[219]
After Grant's abortive attempt to capture Petersburg, Lincoln
supported Grant in his decision to continue. Because of the high
casualties, Lincoln arrived at Grant's headquarters at City Point on
June 21 to assess the state of Grant's army, meeting with Grant and
Admiral Porter. By the time Lincoln departed his appreciation for
Grant had grown.[220]

Grant (center left) next to Lincoln with General Sherman (far left)
and Admiral Porter (right) — The Peacemakers

At Petersburg, Grant approved a plan to blow up part of the enemy
trenches from an underground tunnel. The explosion created a crater,
into which poorly led Union troops poured. Recovering from the
surprise, Confederates surrounded the crater and easily picked off
Union troops within it. The Union's 3,500 casualties outnumbered the
Confederates' by three-to-one; although the plan could have been
successful if implemented correctly, Grant admitted the tactic had
been a "stupendous failure".[221] Rather than fight Lee in a full
frontal attack as he had done at Cold Harbor, Grant continued to
extend Lee's defenses south and west of Petersburg to capture
essential railroad links.[222]
After the Federal army rebuilt the City Point Railroad, Grant used
mortars to attack Lee's overstretched forces.[223] Union forces soon
captured Mobile Bay and Atlanta and now controlled the Shenandoah
Valley, ensuring Lincoln's reelection in November.[224] Sherman
convinced Grant and Lincoln to send his army to march on Savannah and
devastate the Confederate heartland.[225] Sherman cut a 60-mile path
of destruction of Southern infrastructure unopposed, reached the
Atlantic Ocean, and captured Savannah on December 22.[226] On December
16, after much prodding by Grant, the
Union ArmyUnion Army under Thomas smashed
Hood's Confederate Army at Nashville.[227] It was the beginning of the
end for the Confederacy, with Lee's forces at Petersburg being the
only significant obstacle remaining.[228]
Appomattox and victory
Main articles:
Appomattox CampaignAppomattox Campaign and Battle of Appomattox Court
House

Surrender of General Lee to General Grant at Appomattox Court House

By March 1865, Grant had severely weakened Lee's strength, having
extended his lines to 35 miles.[229] Lee's troops deserted by the
thousands due to hunger and the strains of trench warfare.[230] Grant,
Sherman, Porter, and Lincoln held a conference to discuss the
surrender of Confederate armies and Reconstruction of the South on
March 28.[231] On April 2, Union troops took Petersburg and captured
an evacuated Richmond the following day.[232] Lee attempted to link up
with the remnants of Joseph E. Johnston's defeated army, but
Sheridan's cavalry stopped the two armies from converging, cutting
them off from their supply trains.[233] Grant was in communication
with Lee before he entrusted his aide
Orville BabcockOrville Babcock to carry his
last dispatch to Lee requesting his surrender with instructions to
escort him to a meeting place of Lee's choosing.[234] Grant
immediately mounted his horse, Cincinnati, and rode west, bypassing
Lee's army, to join Sheridan who had captured Appomattox Station,
blocking Lee's escape route. On his way Grant was hailed by a member
of Meade's staff carrying a letter sent by Lee through the picket
lines, informing Grant that he was ready to formally surrender.[235]
On April 9, Grant and Lee met at Appomattox Court House.[236] Upon
receiving Lee's dispatch about the proposed meeting Grant had been
jubilant. Although Grant felt depressed at the fall of "a foe who had
fought so long and valiantly," he believed the Southern cause was "one
of the worst for which a people ever fought."[237] After briefly
discussing their days of old in Mexico, Grant wrote out the terms of
surrender, whereupon Lee expressed satisfaction and accepted Grant's
terms.[238] Going beyond his military authority, Grant gave Lee and
his men amnesty; Confederates would surrender their weapons and return
to their homes. At Lee's request, Grant also allowed them to keep
their horses, all on the condition that they would not take up arms
against the United States.[239] Grant ordered his troops to stop all
celebration, saying the "war is over; the rebels are our countrymen
again."[240] Confederate forces surrendered to Union armies, Johnson's
Tennessee army on April 26, Richard Taylor's Alabama army on May 4,
and Kirby Smith's
TexasTexas army on May 26, the war ended.[241]
Lincoln's assassination
Main article: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
On April 14, 1865, five days after Grant's victory at Appomattox, he
attended a cabinet meeting in Washington. Lincoln invited him and his
wife to Ford's Theater, but they declined as upon his wife Julia's
urging, had plans to travel to Philadelphia. In a conspiracy that also
targeted top cabinet members, and in a last effort to topple the
Union, Lincoln was fatally shot by
John Wilkes BoothJohn Wilkes Booth at the theater,
and died the next morning.[242] Many, including Grant himself, thought
that he had been a target in the plot.[243] Stanton notified him of
the President's death and summoned him back to Washington. Vice
President
Andrew JohnsonAndrew Johnson was sworn in as President on April 15.
Attending Lincoln's funeral on April 19, Grant stood alone and wept
openly; he later said Lincoln was "the greatest man I have ever
known."[244] Upon Johnson's assuming the presidency, Grant told Julia
that he dreaded the change in administrations; he judged Johnson's
attitude toward white southerners as one that would "make them
unwilling citizens", and feared that the Civil War would be
revived.[245]
Commanding General

Commanding General Grant
by Ole Peter Hansen Balling, 1865

Main article:
Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant as commanding general, 1865–1869
At the war's end, Grant remained commander of the army, with duties
that included dealing with Maximilian and French troops in Mexico,
enforcement of Reconstruction in the former Confederate states, and
supervision of Indian wars on the western Plains.[246] Grant secured a
house for his family in Georgetown Heights in 1865, but instructed
Elihu Washburne that for political purposes his legal residence
remained in Galena, Illinois.[247] That same year, Grant spoke at
Cooper UnionCooper Union in New York in support of Johnson's presidency. Further
travels that summer took the Grants to Albany, New York, back to
Galena, and throughout Illinois and Ohio, with enthusiastic
receptions.[248] On July 25, 1866, Congress promoted Grant to the
newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States.[249]
Reconstruction
Further information: Reconstruction Era
Reconstruction was a turbulent period from 1863–1877, that
readmitted former Confederate states to the Union, "during which the
nation’s laws and Constitution were rewritten to guarantee the basic
rights of the former slaves, and biracial governments came to power
throughout the defeated Confederacy."[250] In November 1865, Johnson
sent Grant on a fact-finding mission to the South. Grant recommended
continuation of a reformed Freedmen's Bureau, which Johnson opposed,
but advised against using black troops which he believed encouraged an
alternative to farm labor.[251] Grant did not believe the people of
the South were ready for self-rule, and that both whites and blacks in
the South required protection by the federal government. Concerned
that the war led to a diminished respect for civil authorities, Grant
continued using the Army to maintain order.[252] On the same day the
Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, Grant filed an unconvincing and
optimistic report of his tour, expressing his faith that "the mass of
thinking men of the South accept the present situation of affairs in
good faith."[253] In this respect Grant's opinion on Reconstruction
aligned with Johnson's policy of restoring former Confederates to
their positions of power, arguing that Congress should allow
representatives from the South to take their seats.[254] Grant, like
Lincoln, out of a sense of duty, believed the federal government was
responsible to all
Union ArmyUnion Army veterans who served in the war, both
white and black.[255]
Relationship with Johnson

Grant's relationship with Johnson started out on a congenial basis,
despite differences in politics and personalities.[256] Grant's
service as Union General, caused him to join the Republican
Party.[255] Johnson favored a lenient approach to Reconstruction,
calling for an immediate return of the former Confederate states into
the Union without any guarantee of
African AmericanAfrican American civil rights.[257]
The Radical Republican-controlled Congress opposed the idea and
refused to admit Congressmen from the former Confederate states.
Congress, over Johnson's vetoes, renewed the
Freedmen's BureauFreedmen's Bureau and
passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866.[258] Grant and Johnson found
themselves in a quiet conflict over Reconstruction enforcement, while
Grant as a soldier was determined to remain loyal to his Commander in
Chief.[259] Needing Grant's popularity, Johnson took Grant on his
"Swing Around the Circle" tour, speaking out against Congressional
Reconstruction.[260] Grant believed that Johnson was purposefully
agitating conservative opinion to defy Congressional Reconstruction,
privately calling Johnson's speeches a "national disgrace".[257] On
March 2, 1867, overriding Johnson's veto, Congress passed the first of
three Reconstruction Acts, which divided the southern states into five
military districts, putting in charge military officers to enforce
Reconstruction policy.[261] Protecting Grant, Congress passed the
Command of the Army Act, attached to an army appropriation bill,
preventing his removal or relocation, and forcing Johnson to pass
orders through Grant, the general in chief.[262]
In August 1867, Johnson suspended
Secretary of WarSecretary of War Edwin Stanton, a
Lincoln appointee who sympathized with Congressional Reconstruction,
replacing him with Grant as acting Secretary.[263][t] Stanton was a
Radical RepublicanRadical Republican protected by allies in Congress.[265] Grant wanted
to replace him but recommended against bypassing the Tenure of Office
Act, prohibiting a cabinet removal without Senate approval.[266] Grant
accepted the position, not wanting the Army to fall under a
conservative appointee who would impede Reconstruction, and managed an
uneasy partnership with Johnson.[267] In December 1867 Congress voted
to keep Stanton who was reinstated by a Senate Committee on January
10, 1868. Grant told Johnson he was going to resign office to avoid
fines and imprisonment. Johnson, who was scheming to get rid of Grant,
told him he would assume all such responsibility[264] and asked him to
delay his resignation until a suitable replacement could be found,
believing Grant had agreed to do so. When the Senate voted and
reinstated Stanton,[268] Grant surrendered the office before Johnson
had an opportunity to appoint a replacement. Johnson was livid at
Grant, accusing him of lying at a stormy cabinet meeting. The
publication of angry messages between Grant and Johnson led to a
complete break between the president and his general.[269] The
controversy led to Johnson's impeachment and trial in the Senate.[265]
Needing a two-thirds Senate vote to impeach, Johnson was acquitted by
one vote in a Senate impeachment trial.[270] The break with Johnson
popularized Grant among Republicans and made him the uncontested
candidate for the presidency in 1868.[271]
Election of 1868
Main article:
United StatesUnited States presidential election, 1868

First inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant, Capitol building steps, March
4, 1869

When the Republican Party met at the 1868 Republican National
Convention in Chicago, the delegates unanimously nominated Grant for
president and Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, for vice
president.[265] Although Grant had preferred to remain in the army, he
accepted the Republican nomination out of duty, while he believed he
was the only one who could unify the nation.[272] The Republicans
advocated "equal civil and political rights to all" and African
American enfranchisement.[273][274] The Democrats, having abandoned
Johnson, nominated former governor
Horatio SeymourHoratio Seymour (New York) for
president and Francis P. Blair (Missouri) for vice president.[275] The
Democrats advocated the immediate restoration of former Confederate
states to the Union and amnesty from "all past political
offenses".[276]
Grant played no overt role during the campaign and instead was joined
by Sherman and Sheridan in a tour of the West that summer.[277]
However, the Republicans adopted his words "Let us have peace" as
their campaign slogan.[278] Grant's 1862 General Order No. 11 became
an issue during the presidential campaign; he sought to distance
himself from the order, saying "I have no prejudice against sect or
race, but want each individual to be judged by his own merit."[279]
The Democrats and their Klan supporters focused mainly on ending
Reconstruction and returning control of the South to the white
Democrats and the planter class, which alienated many
War Democrats in
the North.[280] Grant won the popular election by 300,000 votes out of
5,716,082 votes cast, receiving an electoral college landslide of 214
votes to Seymour's 80.[281] Seymour received a majority of white
votes, but Grant was aided by 500,000 votes cast by blacks,[275]
winning him 54.7 percent of the popular vote.[282] At the age of 46,
Grant was the youngest president yet elected, and the first president
after the nation had outlawed slavery. Grant's election was widely
regarded as a triumph of principles that included restoration of
Southern reconstructed states, efficient government, and sound
money.[283]
Presidency (1869–1877)
Main article: Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant

President Grant 1869

On March 4, 1869, Grant was sworn in as the eighteenth President of
the
United StatesUnited States by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. Grant assumed the
presidency with reluctance, which he expressed in an 1868 letter,
after his nomination, to his close friend Sherman:

I have been forced into it in spite of myself. I could not back down
without, as it seems to me, leaving the contest for power for the next
four years between mere trading politicians, the elevation of whom, no
matter which party won, would lose to us, largely, the results of the
costly war which we have gone through.[284]

Grant's presidency began unusually, as President Johnson, at the time
angry with Grant, did not attend Grant's inauguration or ride with him
as he departed the White House for the last time.[285] In his
inaugural address, Grant urged the ratification of the Fifteenth
Amendment, while large numbers of
African AmericansAfrican Americans attended his
inauguration.[286] He also urged that bonds issued during the Civil
War should be paid in gold and called for reform in Indian Policy
while he recommended the "proper treatment" of Native Americans and
encouraged their "civilization and ultimate citizenship".[287]
Grant's cabinet appointments were made without senatorial approval and
sparked both criticism and approval.[288] Grant chose two close
friends for important posts:
Elihu B. WashburneElihu B. Washburne for Secretary of State
and
John A. RawlinsJohn A. Rawlins as Secretary of War.[289] Washburne was replaced
by conservative New York statesman Hamilton Fish.[289] Rawlins died in
office after serving only a few months, replaced by William W. Belknap
of Iowa.[290] For Treasurer he appointed
Alexander T. StewartAlexander T. Stewart who was
found ineligible and replaced by Representative George S. Boutwell, a
MassachusettsMassachusetts Radical Republican.[291] Philadelphia businessman Adolph
E. Borie was appointed Secretary of Navy, who was reluctant to accept,
soon resigned due to poor health and was replaced by a relative
unknown, George M. Robeson, a former brigadier general.[292] Other
cabinet appointments included former major general and Ohio Governor
Jacob D. CoxJacob D. Cox for Secretary of the Interior, former Senator from
Maryland
John CreswellJohn Creswell as Postmaster General, and Ebenezer Rockwood
Hoar (Attorney General)—were well received.[293]

The First Family: Ulysses and Julia Grant's family at the "summer
capital" in Long Branch, New Jersey, 1870

Grant nominated Sherman his Army successor as general-in-chief and
gave him control over war bureau chiefs.[294] When Rawlins took over
the War Department,[u] he complained to Grant that Sherman was given
too much authority. Grant reluctantly revoked his own order, upsetting
Sherman and damaging their wartime friendship.[294] Grant's nomination
of James Longstreet, a former Confederate general, to the position of
Surveyor of Customs of the port of New Orleans, was met with general
amazement, and was largely seen as a genuine effort to unite the North
and South.[296]
Grant also appointed four Justices to the Supreme Court: William
Strong, Joseph P. Bradley,
Ward HuntWard Hunt and Chief Justice Morrison
Waite.[297] Hunt voted to uphold Reconstruction laws while Waite and
Bradley did much to undermine them.[298] To rectify his controversial
General Order # 11 during the Civil War, Grant appointed Jewish
leaders to office, including
Simon WolfSimon Wolf recorder of deeds in
Washington D.C.,
Edward S. SalomonEdward S. Salomon Governor of the Washington
Territory.[299] Grant integrated the executive mansion, appointed
African AmericansAfrican Americans to federal positions and office, including Ebenezer
D. Bassett minister to Haiti, and
James Milton TurnerJames Milton Turner minister to
Liberia.[300]

When Grant took office in 1869, Reconstruction took precedence,
Republicans controlled most Southern states, propped up by Republican
controlled Congress, northern money, and southern military
occupation.[301] Grant advocated in his inaugural address the
ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment that declared the right to
vote for African Americans.[302] Unlike Johnson, Grant's vision of
Reconstruction included federal enforcement of civil rights and spoke
out against voter intimidation of Southern blacks.[303] Within a year,
three remaining former Confederate states—Mississippi, Virginia, and
Texas—were admitted to Congress, having complied with Congressional
Reconstruction Acts and adopted the Fifteenth Amendment.[304]
Supported by Congress, Grant put military pressure on Georgia, the
last remaining former Confederate state, to reinstate its black
legislators and adopt the new amendment.[305] Georgia complied, and on
February 24, 1871 its Senators were seated in Congress, technically
ending Reconstruction.[306] Southern Reconstructed states were
controlled by carpetbaggers, scalawags and former slaves. The Ku Klux
Klan terrorist group, however, continued to undermine Reconstruction
by violence and intimidation.[307]
Grant, in 1870, signed legislation and created the Justice Department
and immediately employed it to enforce the Reconstruction efforts in
the South.[308] On March 23, 1871, Grant asked Congress for
legislation, passed on April 20, known as the
Ku Klux KlanKu Klux Klan Act that
authorized the president to impose martial law and suspend the writ of
habeas corpus.[309] By October, Grant suspended habeas corpus in part
of South Carolina and sent federal troops to help marshals, who
initiated prosecutions.[310] Grant's new Attorney General, Amos T.
Akerman, a former Confederate officer and now zealous civil rights
attorney from Georgia, replaced Hoar. Bolstered by the Department of
Justice and Solicitor General, he made hundreds of arrests while
forcing 2,000 Klansmen to flee the state. Akerman returned over 3,000
indictments of the Klan throughout the South and obtained 600
convictions for the worst offenders.[311] By 1872 the Klan's power
collapsed and elections in the South saw
African AmericansAfrican Americans voting in
record numbers.[312] That same year, Grant signed the Amnesty Act,
which restored political rights to former Confederates. Lacking
sufficient funding, the Justice Department stopped prosecutions of the
Klan by June 1873. Civil rights prosecutions continued but with fewer
yearly cases and convictions.[313] Grant's Postmaster General John
Creswell, once a committed abolitionist, used his patronage powers to
integrate the postal system and appointed a record number of African
American men and women as postal workers across the nation, while also
expanding many of the mail routes.[314] Grant appointed Republican
abolitionist Hugh Lennox Bond, and champion of black education, U.S.
Circuit Court judge.[315]

Image of mobs rioting entitled "The Louisiana Outrage"; White Leaguers
at Liberty Place attacked the integrated police force and state
militia, New Orleans, September 1874

After the Klan's decline, a faction of southern conservatives called
"Redeemers" formed armed groups, such as the Red Shirts and the White
League who openly used violence, intimidation voter fraud, and racist
appeal in an attempt to take control of state governments.[316]
The
Panic of 1873Panic of 1873 and the ensuing depression contributed to public
fatigue, and the North grew less concerned with Reconstruction.[317]
Supreme Court rulings in the
Slaughter-House CasesSlaughter-House Cases and United States
v. Cruikshank restricted federal enforcement of civil rights.[318] In
1874, Grant ended the
Brooks–Baxter WarBrooks–Baxter War bringing Reconstruction in
ArkansasArkansas to a peaceful conclusion; that same year, he sent troops and
warships under Major General
William H. EmoryWilliam H. Emory to
New OrleansNew Orleans in the
wake of the
Colfax MassacreColfax Massacre and disputes over the election of Governor
William Pitt Kellogg.[319] Grant recalled Sheridan and most of the
federal troops from Louisiana.[320]
By 1875, Redeemer Democrats took control of all but three Southern
states. As violence against black Southerners escalated once more,
Attorney General
Edwards PierrepontEdwards Pierrepont told Governor
Adelbert AmesAdelbert Ames of
MississippiMississippi that the people were "tired of the autumnal outbreaks in
the South", and declined to intervene directly, instead sending an
emissary to negotiate a peaceful election.[321] Grant later regretted
not issuing a proclamation to help Ames, having been told Republicans
in Ohio would bolt the party if Grant intervened in Mississippi.[322]
Grant told Congress in January 1875 he could not "see with
indifference Union men or Republicans ostracized, persecuted, and
murdered."[323] Congress refused to strengthen the laws against
violence, but instead passed a sweeping law to guarantee blacks access
to public facilities.[324] Grant signed it as the Civil Rights Act of
1875, but enforcement was weak and the Supreme Court ruled the law
unconstitutional in 1883.[325] In October 1876, Grant dispatched
troops to South Carolina to aid Republican Governor Daniel Henry
Chamberlain.[326] Grant's successor, Hayes, abandoned the remaining
three Republican governments in the South that were supported by the
army after the Compromise of 1877, which marked the end of
Reconstruction.[327]
Indian peace policy
Further information:
American Indian WarsAmerican Indian Wars § West of the
MississippiMississippi (1811–1924)

Ely Samuel Parker
Seneca Indian appointed by Grant as Commissioner of Indian Affairs

When Grant took office in 1869, the nation's policy towards Indians
was in chaos, with more than 250,000 Indians being governed by 370
treaties.[71] He appointed Ely S. Parker, a Seneca Indian, a member of
his wartime staff, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Native
American to serve in this position, surprising many around
him.[328][v] In April 1869, Grant signed a law establishing an unpaid
Board of Indian Commissioners to reduce corruption and oversee
implementation of Indian policy, based on the appointment of
churchmen, "Quakers", as Indian agents.[330][w] In 1871, he signed a
bill ending the Indian treaty system; the law now treated individual
Native Americans as wards of the federal government, and no longer
dealt with the tribes as sovereign entities.[332][x] Grant's peace
policy was undermined by Parker's resignation in 1871, denominational
infighting, and entrenched economic interests, while Indians refused
to adopt
European AmericanEuropean American culture.[333]
On October 1, 1872, General
Oliver Otis HowardOliver Otis Howard successfully negotiated
peace with
ApacheApache leader, Cochise, who waged guerrilla war against the
army and settlers, to move the tribe to a new reservation.[334] On
April 11, 1873, General Edward Canby, was killed in Northern
CaliforniaCalifornia south of
Tule LakeTule Lake by Modoc leader Kintpuash, in a failed
peace conference to end the Modoc War, shocking the nation.[335] Grant
ordered restraint after Canby's death, the army captured Kintpuash,
who was convicted of Canby's murder and hanged on October 3 at Fort
Klamath, while the remaining Modoc tribe was relocated to the Indian
Territory.[335] In 1874, the army defeated the
ComancheComanche Indians at the
Battle of Palo Duro Canyon.[336] Their villages were burned and horses
slaughtered, eventually forcing them to finally settle at the Fort
Sill reservation in 1875.[337] Grant pocket-vetoed a bill in 1874
protecting bison and supporting Interior Secretary Columbus Delano,
who believed correctly the killing of bison would force Plains Indians
to abandon their nomadic lifestyle.[338][y]
The Plains tribes accepted the reservation system, but encounters with
prospectors and settlers in search of gold in the Black Hills led to
renewed conflict in the Great Sioux War of 1876, ending the
understanding established between Grant and Sioux Chief Red
Cloud.[340] Grant was determined to enforce the treaty using the army
if necessary, but after consulting with Sheridan he was reminded that
the post-Civil War army was undermanned and that the territory
involved was vast, requiring great numbers of soldiers to enforce the
treaty; as a result, it was never enforced.[341] During the war, Sioux
warriors led by
Crazy HorseCrazy Horse killed
George Armstrong CusterGeorge Armstrong Custer and his men
at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the army's most famous defeat in
the Indian wars. Later, Grant castigated Custer in the press, saying
"I regard Custer's massacre as a sacrifice of troops, brought on by
Custer himself, that was wholly unnecessary – wholly
unnecessary."[342] In spite of Grant's efforts, over 200 battles were
fought with the Indians during his presidency.[343] The policy was
considered humanitarian for its time but was later criticized for
disregarding native cultures.[344]
Foreign affairs
Further information: Annexation of Santo Domingo, Treaty of Washington
(1871), and Virginius Affair

Hamilton Fish
Secretary of State, 1869–1877

The most pressing problem confronting Grant when he took office in
1869 was the settlement of the Alabama claims against Great Britain,
involving a set of complex grievances and depredations committed
against American shipping during the Civil War by the Confederate
cruiser CSS Alabama, secretly purchased in England.[345] Senator
Charles Sumner, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, believed
the British had violated American neutrality and demanded reparations,
including the acquisition of Canada.[346] Fish and Boutwell convinced
Grant that peaceful relations with Britain were more important and the
two nations agreed to negotiate along those lines.[347] To avoid
jeopardizing negotiations, Grant refrained from recognizing Cuban
rebels who were fighting for independence from Spain, which would have
been inconsistent with American objections to the British granting
belligerent status to Confederates.[348][z] A commission in Washington
produced a treaty whereby an international tribunal would settle the
damage amounts; the British admitted regret, but not fault.[349][aa]
The Senate approved the Treaty of Washington, which also settled
disputes over fishing rights and maritime boundaries, by a 50–12
vote, signed on May 8, 1871.[351]
Grant's settlement of the Alabama claims was undermined by his attempt
to annex the Dominican Republic.[348] In early April 1869, Colonel
Joseph W. Fabens, emissary for President Buenaventura Báez, met with
Fish, and presented a lavish proposal for Dominican Republic
annexation.[352] On April 6, Fish brought up Dominican cession at a
cabinet meeting, but the matter was pass by.[353] In July, Grant sent
Babcock to the
Dominican RepublicDominican Republic given instructions by Fish to
investigate the government, natural resources, people, and
economy.[354] In mid-September, Babcock returned to Washington with an
unexpected treaty annexation proposal, that Grant endorsed at a
cabinet meeting.[355] Grant believed annexation would strengthen
American power in the Caribbean, and serve as a safe haven for African
Americans.[356] Fish was instructed by Grant to draw up two treaties,
one for Dominican annexation and another for the lease of Samaná
Bay.[357] By December, Grant had two authorized treaties in hand,
negotiated by Babcock, that Grant submitted to the Senate on January
20, 1870 for ratification.[358]
Grant personally lobbied Senators to vote for the annexation
treaty.[359] Senator Sumner strongly opposed annexation and the
Foreign Relations Committee he chaired rejected the treaty by a 5 to 2
vote, while the Senate, despite Grant's efforts, defeated the treaty
by a 28–28 vote, with 19 Republicans joining the opposition.[360]
Undaunted, Grant convinced Congress to send a commission to
investigate.[361] For this undertaking, he chose three neutral
parties, with
Fredrick DouglassFredrick Douglass to head the commission.[362] Although
the commission approved its findings, the Senate remained opposed,
forcing Grant to abandon further efforts.[363] Grant fired Sumner's
friend and Minister to Great Britain, John Lothrop Motley, while his
allies in the Senate deposed Sumner of his chairmanship.[364]

King
KalākauaKalākaua of Hawaii meets President Grant at the White House in
1874.

In October 1873, Grant's Caribbean neutrality policy was shaken when a
Spanish cruiser captured a merchant ship, Virginius, flying the U.S.
flag, carrying supplies and men to aid the Cuban insurrection.[365]
Spanish authorities executed the prisoners, including eight American
citizens, and many Americans called for war with Spain.[366] Grant
ordered U.S. Navy Squadron warships to converge on Cuba, off of Key
West, supported by the USS Kansas.[367] On November 27, Thanksgiving
Day, Fish reached a diplomatic resolution in Washington with Spanish
minister José Polo.[368] Spain's president, Emilio Castelar y Ripoll,
expressed his regret, surrendered the Virginius and surviving
captives.[369] A year later, Spain paid a cash indemnity of $80,000 to
the families of the executed Americans.[369] Realizing the Navy was
susceptible to European naval powers, in June 1874, Secretary Robeson
commissioned the reconstruction of five redesigned double-turreted
monitor warships.[370] In December 1874, Grant held a state dinner at
the White House for the King of Hawaii, David Kalakaua, who was
seeking duty-free sugar importation to the US. Grant and Fish secured
a free trade treaty in 1875 with the Kingdom of Hawaii, incorporating
the Pacific islands' sugar industry into the United States' economic
sphere.[371]
Gold standardGold standard and the Gold Ring
Further information: Black Friday (1869)
Soon after taking office Grant took conservative steps to return the
nation's currency to a more secure footing.[348] During the Civil War,
Congress had authorized the Treasury to issue banknotes that, unlike
the rest of the currency, were not backed by gold or silver. The
"greenback" notes, as they were known, were necessary to pay the
unprecedented war debts, but they also caused inflation and forced
gold-backed money out of circulation; Grant was determined to return
the national economy to pre-war monetary standards.[372] On March 18,
1869, he signed the
Public Credit Act of 1869Public Credit Act of 1869 that guaranteed
bondholders would be repaid in "coin or its equivalent", while
greenbacks would gradually be redeemed by the Treasury and replaced by
notes backed by specie. The act committed the government to the full
return of the gold standard within ten years.[373] This followed a
policy of "hard currency, economy and gradual reduction of the
national debt." Grant's own ideas about the economy were simple and he
relied on the advice of wealthy and financially successful businessman
that he courted.[348]

A cartoon showing Grant running with a bag of Treasury gold released
to defeat the Gold Ring.

In April 1869, financial speculators
Jay GouldJay Gould and Jim Fisk, plotted
to corner the gold market in New York, the nation's financial
capital.[374] Gould controlled the Erie Railroad, and a high price of
gold would allow foreign agriculture buyers to purchase exported
agriculture crops, shipped east over the Erie's routes, to reap Gould
high returns.[375] Gould and Fisk planned to buy and bid up the price
of gold in New York and make huge profits, but Boutwell's bi-weekly
policy of selling gold from the Treasury kept gold artificially
low.[376] To stop the sale of Treasury gold, Gould coddled a
relationship with Grant's brother-in-law, Abel Corbin, and gained
access to President Grant.[377] Corbin and Gould lobbied for and
convinced Grant to appoint Gould's associate, Daniel Butterfield, as
Assistant Treasurer, allowing Butterfield to gather inside information
for the Ring.[378] In mid-June, on a
BostonBoston dinner cruise, Gould
lobbied Grant that a high price of gold would spur the economy and
increase agriculture sales.[379]
In July, Grant reduced the sale of Treasury gold to $2,000,000 per
month and subsequent months.[379] Fisk played a role in August in New
York, having a letter from Corbin, he told Grant his gold policy would
destroy the nation.[380] By September, Grant, who was naive in matters
of finance, was convinced that a low gold price would help farmers,
and the sale of gold for September was not increased.[381] On
September 23, when the gold price reached 143 1/8, Boutwell rushed to
the White House and talked with Grant.[382] The following day,
September 24, known as Black Friday, Grant ordered Boutwell to sell,
whereupon Boutwell wired Butterfield in New York, to sell $4,000,000
in gold.[383] The bull market at Gould's Gold Room collapsed, the
price of gold plummeted from 160 to 133 1/3, a bear market panic
ensued, Gould and Fisk fled for their own safety, while severe
economic damages lasted months afterwards.[384] By January 1870, the
economy resumed its post-war recovery.[385] An 1870 Congressional
investigation chaired by
James A. GarfieldJames A. Garfield cleared Grant of
profiteering, but excoriated Gould and Fisk for their manipulation of
the gold market and Corbin for exploiting his personal connection to
Grant.[386]
Election of 1872 and second term
Main article:
United StatesUnited States presidential election, 1872

Despite his administration's scandals, Grant continued to be
personally popular.[387] His reelection was supported by Frederick
Douglas and other prominent abolitionists along with reformers of the
Indian question.[388] In 1871, to placate reformers and alleviate a
burgeoning federal bureaucracy, Grant created the Civil Service
Commission, chaired by reformer George William Curtis, authorized and
funded by Congress, to take effect January 1, 1872.[389] Congress,
however, failed to enact permanent civil service legislation and in
1875 it refused to implement funding to maintain the commission.[390]
Party reformers cooled toward Grant, critical of Grant's
implementation of the commission's proposed reforms, corruption at the
New York Customs House investigated by Congress, and Grant's alliance
with party and patronage boss New York Senator Roscoe Conkling.[391]
There was further intraparty division between the faction most
concerned with the plight of the freedmen, and the faction concerned
with the growth of industry and small government. During the war, both
factions' interests had aligned, and in 1868 both had supported Grant.
As the wartime coalition began to fray, Grant's alignment with the
party's pro-Reconstruction elements alienated party leaders who
favored an end to federal intervention in Southern racial issues.[392]
In March 1871, led by Senator
Carl SchurzCarl Schurz of Missouri and General
Jacob D. Cox, Grant's former Secretary of Interior, one hundred
Republicans in Cincinnati broke from the party and formed what became
the Liberal Republican Party, supporting "civil service reform, sound
money, low tariffs, and states' rights."[393] The Liberals denounced
Grantism, corruption, nepotism, and inefficiency, demanded the
withdrawal of federal troops from the South, literary tests for blacks
to vote, and amnesty for Confederates.[394] The Liberals nominated
Horace Greeley, a leading Republican New York Tribune editor and a
fierce enemy of Grant, for president, and Missouri governor B. Gratz
Brown, for vice president.[395] The Democrats adopted the
Greeley-Brown ticket and the Liberals party platform.[396] The
opposition pushed the themes that Grant was a scandal-ridden crook and
a drunkard.[397] The regular Republican Party nominated Grant for
reelection, with Senator
Henry WilsonHenry Wilson of
MassachusettsMassachusetts replacing
Colfax as the vice presidential nominee.[398] Details revealed of the
Crédit Mobilier bribery scandal, implicating both Colfax and Wilson,
stung the Grant administration, but did not directly involve
Grant.[399] The Republicans shrewdly borrowed from the Liberals party
platform including "extended amnesty, lowered tariffs, and embraced
civil service reform."[400] To placate the burgeoning suffragist
movement, the Republicans' platform included that women's rights
should be treated with "respectful consideration", while Grant
advocated equal rights for all citizens.[401] To the Liberals'
chagrin, Greeley made Grant's Southern policy, rather than reform, the
main campaign issue.[402]
Grant won reelection easily, as federal prosecution of the Klan, a
strong economy, debt reduction, lowered tariffs, and tax reductions,
helped Grant defeat Greeley.[403] Grant received 3.6 million
(55.6 %) votes to Greeley's 2.8 million votes and an Electoral
College landslide of 286 to 66.[404][ab] A majority of African
Americans in the South voted for Grant, while Democratic opposition
remained mostly peaceful.[406] Grant lost in six former slave states
that wanted to see an end to Reconstruction.[407] Grant proclaimed the
victory as a personal vindication of his presidency, but inwardly he
felt betrayed by the Liberals.[302] Grant was sworn in for his second
term by
Salmon P. ChaseSalmon P. Chase on March 4, 1873. In his second inaugural
address, he reiterated the problems still facing the nation and
focused on what he considered the chief issues of the day: freedom and
fairness for all Americans while emphasizing the benefits of
citizenship for freed slaves. Grant concluded his address with the
words, "My efforts in the future will be directed towards the
restoration of good feelings between the different sections of our
common community".[408][ac] In 1873, Wilson suffered a stroke; never
fully recovering, he died in office on November 22, 1875.[410] With
Wilson's loss, Grant relied on Fish's guidance more than ever.[411]
Panic of 1873Panic of 1873 and loss of Congress
Grant continued to work for a strong dollar, signing into law the
Coinage Act of 1873, which effectively ended the legal basis for
bimetallism (the use of both silver and gold as money), establishing
the gold standard in practice.[412][ad] The Coinage Act discontinued
the standard silver dollar and established the gold dollar as the sole
monetary standard; because the gold supply did not increase as quickly
as the population, the result was deflation. Silverites, who wanted
more money in circulation to raise the prices that farmers received,
denounced the move as the "Crime of 1873", claiming the deflation made
debts more burdensome for farmers.[414]

Grant is congratulated for vetoing the "inflation bill" in 1874.

Grant's second term saw renewed economic turmoil. In September 1873,
Jay CookeJay Cooke & Company, a New York brokerage house, collapsed after
it failed to sell all of the bonds issued by Jay Cooke's Northern
Pacific Railway. The collapse rippled through Wall Street, and other
banks and brokerages that owned railroad stocks and bonds were also
ruined.[415] On September 20, the
New York Stock ExchangeNew York Stock Exchange suspended
trading for ten days.[416] Grant, who knew little about finance,
traveled to New York to consult leading businessmen and bankers for
advice on how to resolve the crisis, which became known as the Panic
of 1873.[417] Grant believed that, as with the collapse of the Gold
Ring in 1869, the panic was merely an economic fluctuation that
affected bankers and brokers.[418] He instructed the Treasury to buy
$10 million in government bonds, injecting cash into the system. The
purchases curbed the panic on Wall Street but an industrial
depression, later called the Long Depression, nonetheless swept the
nation.[417] Many of the nation's railroads—89 out of 364—went
bankrupt.[419]
Congress hoped inflation would stimulate the economy and passed what
became known as the "Inflation Bill" in 1874. Many farmers and
workingmen favored the bill, which would have added $64 million in
greenbacks to circulation, but some Eastern bankers opposed it because
it would have weakened the dollar.[420] Belknap, Williams, and
Delano[ae] told Grant a veto would hurt Republicans in the November
elections. Grant believed the bill would destroy the credit of the
nation, and he vetoed it despite their objections. Grant's veto placed
him in the conservative faction of the Republican Party and was the
beginning of the party's commitment to a strong gold-backed
dollar.[422] Grant later pressured Congress for a bill to further
strengthen the dollar by gradually reducing the number of greenbacks
in circulation. When the Democrats gained a majority in the House
after the 1874 elections, the lame-duck Republican Congress did so
before the Democrats took office.[423] On January 14, 1875, Grant
signed the
Specie Payment Resumption Act into law, which required
gradual reduction of the number of greenbacks allowed to circulate and
declared that beginning on January 1, 1879, it would redeem them for
gold.[424][af]
Gilded AgeGilded Age corruption and reform
Further information:
Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant presidential administration
scandals and
Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant presidential administration reforms

Grant was president during the Gilded Age, a time of massive
industrial growth, railroad speculation and extravagance that fueled
unethical behavior in government offices.[426] Although Grant was not
personally involved in scandal, corruption charges plagued his
administration.[427] Grant trusted men involved in speculation,
particularly wealthy
Gilded AgeGilded Age tycoons, loyally defending his corrupt
cabinet or appointees whom he believed innocent.[428] He persistently
failed to make suitable appointments, often selecting friends and
family members.[429] Grant, however, did not stop the guilty parties'
prosecutions, while his political enemies used the scandals as an
excuse to discredit Reconstruction.[430] No person linked any of the
scandals together, except possibly Grant's personal secretary, Orville
E. Babcock, who indirectly controlled many cabinet departments and
delayed federal investigations.[431]
Grant had limited success in civil service reform and his Civil
Service Commission.[432] Grant's Secretary of Interior Jacob D. Cox,
who strongly supported civil service reform, fired unqualified clerks,
implemented a merit testing system, and rebuffed mandatory party
contributions.[433] George William Curtis, whom Grant appointed the
head of the Commission, advocated examinations and the end of forced
political payments. Grant's implemented civil service reforms,
however, "were more honored in the breach than the observance."
Without Grant's support, Cox resigned office on October 3, 1870, under
pressure from Republican senators.[434]
In November 1871, Grant's appointed New York Collector Thomas Murphy,
an ally of Roscoe Conkling, resigned from office. Murphy's men had
created a corrupt profiteering ring at the New York Custom House.
Grant appointed Chester A. Arthur, another Conkling man, to replace
Murphy, and administration of the Customs House steadily improved.
Pressured by an 1872 Congressional investigation, Grant ordered
prosecutions of men involved in the bribery scandal at the Customs
House and removed the ringleader.[435] He was exonerated but his
reputation was damaged by being associated with Conkling's patronage
machine.[436] On March 3, 1873, Grant signed a bill that increased pay
for federal employees, including a Congressional pay hike that was
retroactive to the start of the Congress.[437] Decried as the Salary
Grab Act, Congress repealed the law later that year, but Grant was
allowed to keep his doubled $50,000 a year salary.[438]
Scandals escalated in Grant's second term, reaching into the
President's inner circle.[439] In 1874, a Congressional investigation
exposed corruption in the Treasury Department, known as the Sanborn
incident.[440] William A. Richardson became Secretary of Treasury in
March 1873, replacing Boutwell, and had hired John B. Sanborn, while
Richardson was Boutwell's assistant secretary, to track down tax
collectors and retain half of the collected taxes, known as a moiety,
but Sanborn extorted $427,000 by falsely accusing companies of tax
evasion.[441] Congress condemned Richardson for allowing Sanborn's
malicious profiteering, and when the House motioned Richardson's
censure he resigned and Grant appointed him as a judge of the Court of
Claims.[442] In June 1874, Grant signed the Anti-Moiety Act,
abolishing that system.[443] Grant replaced Richardson as Treasury
Secretary with Benjamin Helm Bristow, a man known for his honesty, who
began a series of reforms in the department, while tightening up its
investigation force.[444] Since the Civil War, taxes on whiskey
accounted for almost half of the government's revenue,[445][ag] but to
avoid paying steep taxes whiskey distillers and corrupt treasury
agents falsified figures on the amount of liquor produced, while
certifying bogus returns. Bristow's investigators uncovered a national
Whiskey RingWhiskey Ring that was denying the treasury millions in revenue. Much
of this money was being pocketed while some of it went into Republican
coffers.[447] Informed by Bristow, Grant authorized him to ("Let no
guilty man escape"), and in May 1875, Bristow struck at the ring.
Federal marshals seized 32 installations and arrested 350 men; 176
indictments were obtained, leading to 110 convictions and $3,150,000
in fines returned to the Treasury.[448]

Grant had appointed former general John McDonald, Grant's old friend,
supervisor of Internal Revenue in St. Louis. Bristow's investigation
revealed that Babcock had warned McDonald, now the mastermind of the
Ring, of the coming investigation, and was rewarded with $1,000 bills
in cigar boxes from the Ring.[449] Grant, who refused to believe in
Babcock's guilt, was ready to travel to
St. LouisSt. Louis and testify in
Babcock's favor, but Secretary Fish warned that doing so would put
Grant in the embarrassing position of testifying against a case
prosecuted by his own administration.[450] Instead, Grant remained in
Washington and on February 12, gave a deposition in Babcock's defense,
expressing that his confidence in his secretary was "unshaken".[451]
Grant's testimony silenced all but his most strongest critics.[452]
The trial jury acquitted Babcock, but there was enough evidence
revealed that Grant reluctantly dismissed him from the White
House.[453][ah] Grant freed some Ring members after a few months in
prison, including McDonald, released after serving 17 months of a
three-year sentence.
The Interior Department under Secretary Columbus Delano, Grant's
appointment who replaced Cox, was rife with fraud and corrupt agents,
and Delano was forced to resign. Surveyor General Silas Reed had set
up corrupt contracts that benefitted Delano's son, John Delano.[455]
Grant's Secretary Interior Zachariah Chandler, who succeeded Delano in
1875, cleaned up corruption and reformed the whole department.[456]
When Grant was informed by Postmaster
Marshall JewellMarshall Jewell of a potential
Congressional investigation into an extortion scandal involving
Attorney General George H. Williams' wife, Grant fired Williams and
appointed
Edwards PierrepontEdwards Pierrepont in his place. Grant's new cabinet
appointments temporarily appeased reformers.[457]
When the Democrats took control of the House in 1875, they launched a
series of investigations into corruption in federal departments.[458]
Among the most damaging of the Indian Ring scandal involved Secretary
of War
William W. BelknapWilliam W. Belknap taking quarterly kickbacks from the Fort
Sill tradership, which led to his resignation in February 1876.[459]
Belknap was impeached by the House, but was acquitted by the
Senate.[460] Grant's own brother Orvil set up "silent partnerships"
and received kickbacks from four trading posts.[461] Congress
discovered that Secretary of Navy Robeson had been bribed by a naval
contractor, but no articles of impeachment were drawn up.[462] In
November 1876, Grant apologized to the nation and admitted mistakes in
his administration, saying, "[f]ailures have been errors of judgement,
not of intent."[463]
Election of 1876
Main article:
United StatesUnited States presidential election, 1876
Even as Grant drew cheers at the opening of the Centennial Exposition
in May 1876, the collected scandals of his presidency, the country's
weak economy, and the Democratic gains in the House led many in the
Republican party to repudiate him in June.[464] Bristow was among the
leading candidates to replace him, suggesting that a large faction
desired an end to "Grantism" and feared that Grant would run for a
third term.[465] Ultimately, Grant declined to run, but Bristow also
failed to capture the nomination, as the convention settled on
Governor
Rutherford B. HayesRutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, a reformer.[466] The Democrats
nominated Governor
Samuel J. TildenSamuel J. Tilden of New York. Voting irregularities
in three Southern states caused the election that year to remain
undecided for several months.[467] Grant told Congress to settle the
matter through legislation and assured both sides that he would not
use the army to force a result, except to curb violence. On January
29, 1877, he signed legislation forming an Electoral Commission to
decide the matter.[468] The Commission ruled that the disputed votes
belonged to Hayes; to forestall Democratic protests, Republicans
agreed to the Compromise of 1877, in which the last troops were
withdrawn from Southern capitals. The Republicans had won, but
Reconstruction was over.[469] According to biographer Jean Edward
Smith, "Grant's calm visage in the White House reassured the
nation."[327]
Cabinet

Post-presidency
Main article: Post-presidency of Ulysses S. Grant
World tour and diplomacy
Main article: World tour of Ulysses S. Grant

Grant and Bismarck in 1878

After leaving the White House, Grant and his family stayed with Fish
in Washington for two months before setting out on a world tour that
lasted approximately two and a half years.[471] Preparing for the
tour, they arrived in Philadelphia on May 10, 1877, and were honored
with celebrations during the week before their departure. On May 16,
Grant and Julia left for England aboard the SS Indiana.[472] During
the tour the Grants made stops in Europe, the Mediterranean, and
points in the middle and Far East, meeting with notable dignitaries
such as Queen Victoria, Pope Leo XIII, Otto von Bismarck, Emperor
Meiji and others. Grant was the first U.S. President to visit
Jerusalem and the Holy Land.[473] As a courtesy to Grant, his touring
party was sometimes transported to their destinations by the U.S.
Navy. During the tour, the Hayes administration encouraged Grant to
assume a diplomatic role to unofficially represent the United States
and strengthen American interests abroad, while resolving issues for
some countries in the process.[474] Homesick, the Grants left Japan
sailing on the
SS City of Tokio escorted by a Japanese man-of-war,
crossed the Pacific and landed in San Francisco on September 20, 1879,
greeted by cheering crowds.[475] Before returning home to
Philadelphia, Grant stopped at Chicago for a reunion with General
Sherman and the Army of the Tennessee.[476] Grant's tour demonstrated
to much of the world that the
United StatesUnited States was an emerging world
power.[477]

Main article: 1880 Republican National Convention
Stalwarts, led by Grant's old political ally, Roscoe Conkling, saw
Grant's renewed popularity as an opportunity to regain power, and
sought to nominate him for the presidency in 1880. Opponents called it
a violation of the unofficial two-term rule in use since George
Washington. Grant said nothing publicly but wanted the job and
encouraged his men.[478] Washburne urged him to run; Grant demurred,
saying he would be happy for the Republicans to win with another
candidate, though he preferred
James G. BlaineJames G. Blaine to John Sherman. Even
so, Conkling and
John A. LoganJohn A. Logan began to organize delegates in Grant's
favor. When the convention convened in Chicago in June, there were
more delegates pledged to Grant than to any other candidate, but he
was still short of a majority vote to get the nomination.[479]
At the convention, Conkling nominated Grant with an elegant speech,
the most famous line being: "When asked which state he hails from, our
sole reply shall be, he hails from Appomattox and its famous apple
tree."[479] With 370 votes needed for nomination, the first ballot had
Grant at 304, Blaine at 284, Sherman at 93, and the rest to minor
candidates.[480] Subsequent ballots followed, with roughly the same
result; neither Grant nor Blaine could win. After thirty-six ballots,
Blaine's delegates deserted him and combined with those of other
candidates to nominate a compromise candidate: Representative James A.
Garfield of Ohio.[481] A procedural motion made the vote unanimous for
Garfield, who accepted the nomination.[482] Grant gave speeches for
Garfield but declined to criticize the Democratic nominee, Winfield
Scott Hancock, a general who had served under him in the Army of the
Potomac.[483] Garfield won the election. Grant gave Garfield his
public support and pushed him to include
Stalwarts in his
administration.[484] On July 2, 1881, Garfield was shot by an assassin
and died on September 19. On learning of Garfield's death from a
reporter, Grant wept bitterly.[485]
Business reversals
When Grant had returned to America from his costly world tour, he had
depleted most of his savings and needed to earn money and find a new
home.[486] Wealthy friends bought him a home on Manhattan's Upper East
Side, and to make an income, Grant, Jay Gould, and former Mexican
Finance Secretary
Matías RomeroMatías Romero chartered the Mexican Southern
Railroad, with plans to build a railroad from Oaxaca to Mexico City.
Grant urged Chester A. Arthur, who had succeeded Garfield as president
in 1881, to negotiate a free trade treaty with Mexico. Arthur and the
Mexican government agreed, but the
United StatesUnited States Senate rejected the
treaty in 1883. The railroad was similarly unsuccessful, falling into
bankruptcy the following year.[487]
At the same time, Grant's son Ulysses Jr. had opened a Wall Street
brokerage house with Ferdinand Ward. Ward was regarded as a rising
star and the firm, Grant & Ward, was initially successful.[488] In
1883, Grant joined the firm and invested $100,000 of his own
money.[489] Grant, however, warned Ward that if his firm engaged in
government business he would dissolve their partnership.[490] To
encourage investment, Ward paid investors abnormally high interest, by
pledging the company's securities on multiple loans in a process
called rehypothecation.[491] Ward, in collusion with banker James D.
Fish, kept secret from bank examiners, retrieved the firm's securities
from the company's bank vault.[492] When the trades went bad, multiple
loans came due, all backed up by the same collateral. Historians agree
that Grant was likely unaware of Ward's intentions, but it is unclear
how much Buck Grant knew. In May 1884, enough investments went bad to
convince Ward that the firm would soon be bankrupt. Ward, who assumed
Grant was "a child in business matters"[493] told Grant of the
impending failure, but assured Grant that this was a temporary
shortfall.[494] Grant approached businessman William Henry Vanderbilt,
who gave him a personal loan of $150,000.[495] Grant invested the
money in the firm, but it was not enough to save it from failure.
Essentially penniless, but compelled by a sense of personal honor, he
repaid what he could with his Civil War mementos and the sale or
transfer of all other assets.[496] Vanderbilt took title to Grant's
home, although he allowed the Grants to continue to reside there, and
pledged to donate the souvenirs to the federal government and insisted
the debt had been paid in full.[497] Grant was distraught over Ward's
deception and asked privately how he could ever "trust any human being
again."[498] In March 1885, as his health was failing, he testified
against both Ward and Fish.[499] Ward was convicted of fraud in
October 1885, months after Grant's death, and served six and a half
years in prison.[500] After the collapse of Grant and Ward, there was
an outpouring of sympathy for Grant.[501]
Memoirs, pension, and death

Grant working on his memoirs in June 1885, less than a month before
his death

Grant's funeral train at West Point, bound for New York City

To restore his family's income and reputation, Grant wrote several
articles on his Civil War campaigns for
The Century MagazineThe Century Magazine at $500
each. The articles were well received by critics, and the editor,
Robert Underwood Johnson, suggested that Grant write a book of
memoirs, as Sherman and others had done. Grant's articles would serve
as the basis for several chapters.[502]
In the summer of 1884, Grant complained of a sore throat but put off
seeing a doctor until late October, when he learned it was cancer,
possibly caused by his frequent cigar smoking.[503][ai] Grant chose
not to reveal the seriousness of his condition to his wife, who soon
found out from Grant's doctor.[505] Before being diagnosed, Grant was
invited to a
MethodistMethodist service for Civil War veterans in Ocean Grove,
New Jersey, on August 4, 1884, receiving a standing ovation from more
than ten thousand veterans and others; it would be his last public
appearance.[506] In March of the following year, the New York Times
announced that Grant was dying of cancer, and a nationwide public
concern for the former president began.[507] Knowing of Grant and
Julia's financial difficulties, Congress sought to honor him and
restored him to the rank of General of the Army with full retirement
pay (Grant's assumption of the presidency in 1869 had required that he
resign his commission and forfeit his pension).[508]
Grant was nearly broke and worried constantly about leaving his wife a
suitable amount of money to live on. Century magazine offered Grant a
book contract with a 10 percent royalty, but Grant's friend Mark
Twain, understanding how bad Grant's financial condition was, made him
an offer for his memoirs which paid an unheard-of 75 percent
royalty.[509] To provide for his family, Grant worked intensely on his
memoirs at his home in New York City. His former staff member Adam
Badeau assisted him with much of the research, while his son Frederick
located documents and did much of the fact-checking.[510] Because of
the summer heat and humidity, his doctors recommended that he move
upstate to a cottage at the top of Mount McGregor, offered by a family
friend.[511]
Grant finished his memoir and died only a few days later.[512] Grant's
memoirs treat his early life and time in the Mexican–American War
briefly and are inclusive of his life up to the end of the Civil
War.[513] The
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. GrantPersonal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant was a critical and
commercial success.
Julia GrantJulia Grant received about $450,000 in
royalties.[509] Grant's successful autobiography pioneered a method
for ex-presidents and veterans to earn money.[514] The memoir has been
highly regarded by the public, military historians, and literary
critics.[515] Grant portrayed himself in the persona of the honorable
Western hero, whose strength lies in his honesty and
straightforwardness. He candidly depicted his battles against both the
Confederates and internal army foes.[516] Twain called the Memoirs a
"literary masterpiece." Given over a century of favorable literary
analysis, reviewer Mark Perry states that the Memoirs are "the most
significant work" of American non-fiction.[517]
After a year-long struggle with cancer, surrounded by his family,
Grant died at 8 o'clock in the morning in the Mount McGregor cottage
on July 23, 1885, at the age of 63.[518] Sheridan, then Commanding
General of the Army, ordered a day-long tribute to Grant on all
military posts, and President
Grover ClevelandGrover Cleveland ordered a thirty-day
nationwide period of mourning. After private services, the honor guard
placed Grant's body on a special funeral train, which traveled to West
Point and New York City. A quarter of a million people viewed it in
the two days before the funeral. Tens of thousands of men, many of
them veterans from the Grand Army of the Republic, marched with
Grant's casket drawn by two dozen black stallions[519] to Riverside
Park in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan. His
pallbearers included Union generals Sherman and Sheridan, Confederate
generals Simon Bolivar Buckner and Joseph E. Johnston, Admiral David
Dixon Porter, and Senator John A. Logan, the head of the GAR.[520]
Following the casket in the seven-mile-long procession were President
Cleveland, the two living former presidents Hayes and Arthur, all of
the President's Cabinet, as well as the justices of the Supreme
Court.[521]
Attendance at the New York funeral topped 1.5 million.[520] Ceremonies
were held in other major cities around the country, while Grant was
eulogized in the press and likened to
George WashingtonGeorge Washington and Abraham
Lincoln.[522] Grant's body was laid to rest in Riverside Park, first
in a temporary tomb, and then—twelve years later, on April 17,
1897—in the General Grant National Memorial, also known as "Grant's
Tomb", the largest mausoleum in North America.[520]
Historical reputation

Commanding General Grant
Constant Mayer's portrait of 1866

Further information:
Historical reputation of Ulysses S. GrantHistorical reputation of Ulysses S. Grant and
Historical rankings of presidents of the United States
Many historians and biographers have been intrigued and challenged by
contradictions in Grant's life, and few presidential reputations have
shifted as dramatically as his.[523] At his death, Grant was seen as
"a symbol of the American national identity and memory".[524] Soon
afterward, Grant's reputation fell under severe criticism as national
reconciliation took hold among whites throughout the country.[523]
Later accounts portrayed his administration as corrupt; as the
popularity of the pro-Confederate
Lost CauseLost Cause theory and the Dunning
School movement grew early in the 20th century, a more negative view
of Grant became common.[525] In 1917, historian Louis Arthur Coolidge
bucked the trend of negativity and said Grant's "success as President"
was "hardly less significant than his success at war."[526] In 1931,
historians Paxson and Bach noted that Grant's presidency "had some
achievements, after all."[527] In 1934, historian Robert R. McCormick
said Grant's military triumphs were neglected due in part to the
"malicious and deliberate design" of
Lost CauseLost Cause veterans and
writers.[528] In the 1950s, historians
Bruce CattonBruce Catton and T. Harry
Williams began a reassessment of Grant's military career, shifting the
analysis of Grant as victor by brute force to that of successful,
skillful, modern strategist and commander.[529]
William S. McFeely won
the Pulitzer Prize for his critical 1981 biography that credited
Grant's initial presidential efforts on civil rights, but lamented his
failure to carry out lasting progress.[530] however, historians debate
how effective he was at halting corruption.[531]
In the 21st century, Grant's reputation among historians has improved
markedly.[532] Historians' opinions of Grant's presidency now better
appreciate Grant's personal integrity, Reconstruction efforts and
peace policy towards Indians, even when they fell short.[524][533] In
2016,
Ronald C. WhiteRonald C. White continued this trend with a biography that
historian
T. J. StilesT. J. Stiles said, "solidifies the positive image amassed in
recent decades, blotting out the caricature of a military butcher and
political incompetent, promoted by
Lost CauseLost Cause and
Jim CrowJim Crow era
historians."[534][aj] Like White's book, Ron Chernow's 2017 biography
(Grant) continued the elevation of Grant's historical reputation.[536]
In another 2017 book review, former U.S. President Bill Clinton
offered praise for "Grant’s significant achievements at the end of
the war and after."[537] Historian Charles W. Calhoun noted Grant's
presidential successes of obtaining Civil Rights legislation and
righting the country economically after the Civil War, but questioned
whether Grant's recent appreciation by historians has found its place
in "popular consciousness."[538]
Memorials and presidential library

The monument to U.S. Grant at the national military park in Vicksburg,
MS, unveiled in 1919.

Grant National Memorial, known as "Grant's Tomb", largest mausoleum in
North America

^ After erroneously being nominated at West Point as Ulysses S. Grant,
by a Congressman Hamer this became his assumed common name, but Grant
attached no specific name to the middle initial.[1]
^ Grant's step-grandmother Sarah Simpson, an educated woman who read
French classical literature, spoke up for the name Ulysses, the
legendary, ancient Greek hero.[11]
^ Biographer Edward G. Longacre attributes Grant's parents' decision
to their recognition of his hatred of music.
^ According to Grant, the S. did not stand for anything.[22] Hamer
believed it stood for Simpson.[23]
^ All the graduates were mounted on horses during the ceremony.[29]
^ Several scholars, including Jean Edward Smith, Ron Chernow, and
Charles B. Flood said that Longstreet was Grant's best man and the two
other officers were Grant's groomsmen.[44] All three served in the
Confederate Army and surrendered to Grant at Appomattox.[45]
^ The store was operated by the Seligman brothers, two Jewish
merchants who became Grant's lifelong friends who later became wealthy
bankers who donated substantially to Grant's presidential
campaign.[65]
^ On June 15, 1846, the
Oregon TreatyOregon Treaty between the
United StatesUnited States and
Great Britain ceded the
Oregon TerritoryOregon Territory to the
United StatesUnited States formerly
ending British-American joint occupation without war.[69]
^
William McFeely said that Grant left the army simply because he was
"profoundly depressed" and that the evidence as to how much and how
often Grant drank remains elusive.[74]
Jean Edward Smith maintains
Grant's resignation was too sudden to be a calculated decision.[77]
Buchanan never mentioned it again until asked about it during the
Civil War.[78] The effects and extent of Grant's drinking on his
military and public career are debated by historians.[79] Lyle Dorsett
said Grant was an "alcoholic" but functioned amazingly well. William
Farina maintains Grant's devotion to family kept him from drinking to
excess and sinking into debt.[80]
^ Jesse's tannery business was later known as "Grant & Perkins" in
1862.[96]
^ Rawlins later became Grant's aide-de-camp and close friend during
the war.
^ Grant's position about a civil war was made clear in an April 21
letter to his father; "we have a government and laws and a flag, and
they must all be sustained. There are but two parties now, Traitors
and Patriots ..."[107]
^ Frémont dismissed rumors of Grant's drunkenness years earlier in
the regular army, saying there was something about Grant's manner
"that was sufficient to counteract the influence of what they
said."[116]
^ Frémont was dismissed when he refused Lincoln's order to overturn
his proclamation to emancipate Confederate slaves.[120] Frémont was
briefly replaced by Major General
David HunterDavid Hunter serving as the
Department of the West's last commander before it was broken up.[121]
^ See topographical map
^ In response to allegations of Grant's drinking, his staff officer,
William R. Rowley, maintained that the allegation was a fabricated
lie. Other witnesses claimed that Grant was sober on the morning of
April 6.
^ Grant made amends with the Jewish community during his presidency,
appointing them to various positions in his administration.[177]
^ Grant was considered one of the top equestrians in the United
States. He rode several other horses during the Civil War.[196]
^ Meade had followed Halleck's cautious approach to fighting, and
Grant was there to give him direction and encouragement to be more
aggressive.[201]
^ Johnson had already dismissed four other military district
commanders.[264]
^ John Schofield, who was
Secretary of WarSecretary of War under Johnson, was asked by
Grant to remain in that position until he could appoint his own man in
office.[295]
^ Grant's religious faith also influenced his policy towards Indians,
believing that the "Creator" did not place races of men on earth for
the "stronger" to destroy the "weaker".[329]
^ His Peace Policy aimed to replace entrepreneurs serving as Indian
agents with missionaries and aimed to protect Indians on reservations
and educate them in farming.[331]
^ Grant believed that Indians, given opportunities for education and
work, could serve alongside white men.[329]
^ Bison were hunted almost to the point of extinction during the
latter 1800s, Yellowstone National Park was the only remaining place
in the country where free-roaming herds persisted.[339]
^ Urged by his
Secretary of WarSecretary of War Rawlins, Grant initially supported
recognition of Cuban belligerency, but Rawlins's death on September 6,
1869, removed any cabinet support for military intervention.[348]
^ The international tribunal awarded the United States
$15,500,000.[350]
^ Greeley died after election day but before the day the Electoral
College voted, as a result, Greeley's running mate, Brown, received
most of the electoral votes Greeley would have had.[405]
^ The day after his Inauguration, Grant wrote a letter to Colfax
expressing his faith and trust in Colfax's integrity and allowed him
to publish the letter, but the effort only served to compromise
Grant's reputation.[409]
^ The gold standard and deflation economy remained in effect into the
mid-1890s.[413]
^ Grant and Delano, his second Secretary of Interior, were third
cousins.[421]
^ The 1879 date was more distant than Grant had hoped, but the
knowledge that paper money would soon be worth its face value in gold
drove them towards parity before the bill took effect. The country was
still not on the gold standard, with silver coins remaining lawful
currency.[425]
^ Congress had introduced taxes on whiskey to help fund the Union
effort during the Civil War.[446]
^ McFeely, writing in 1981, believed that Grant knew of Babcock's
guilt, while Smith, in 2001, believed the evidence against Babcock was
circumstantial at best.[454]
^ Today, medical historians believed he suffered from a T1N1 carcinoma
of the tonsillar fossa.[504]
^ White said Grant, "demonstrated a distinctive sense of humility,
moral courage, and determination," and as president he "stood up for
African-Americans, especially fighting against voter suppression
perpetuated by the Ku Klux Klan."[535]

Grant, Ulysses S. (1885). Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant. C.L. Webster
& Co. – Many editions in paper and online; ends in 1865
Simon, John Y., ed. (1967–2009). "The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant".
MississippiMississippi State University Online Edition.
Peters, Gerhard; Woolley, John T. (2018b). "1868 Democratic Party
Platform". The American Presidency Project.
Peters, Gerhard; Woolley, John T. (2018a). "Republican Party Platform
of 1868". The American Presidency Project.
Young, John Russell (1879a). Around the World with General Grant, Vol.
I. New York: The American News Company.

National Republican Congressional Committee
National Republican Senatorial Committee
Republican Conference of the
United StatesUnited States House of Representatives
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United StatesUnited States Senate
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African Americans
Cornerstone Speech
Emancipation Proclamation
Fugitive slave laws
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Uncle Tom's Cabin

Centennial
Civil War Discovery Trail
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Historical reenactment
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Disenfranchisement

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Lost CauseLost Cause mythology
Modern display of the Confederate flag
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Monuments and memorials

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List of Union Civil War monuments and memorials
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List of Confederate monuments and memorials
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